Love Hina: The Path Of Love
by Zero Eiyuu
Summary: Keitaro Urashima, a man who had everything going for him, has just gone through a big tragedy in his life. His only hope to try and find himself is waiting for him at Hinata Sou... there lies his happiness. He of all people deserves it all...
1. Prologue

**Zero Eiyuu: Ughh… finally I found it. You don't know how shocked I was when I saw that my story was replaced by my Kanon story, how embarassing. People who were probably thinking they were gonna read Love Hina reading Kanon? How annoying, and I am sorry for anyone. But anyway though, let's begin with this story… err, again. Oh yeah, I fixed some typos.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Love Hina**

-/-/-/-/-/ Change of place

**Love Hina: The Path of Love **

Prologue: The Bright Young Man

A man dressed in a black tuxedo was trying to fix his tie in front of a circular mirror. He didn't seem to be doing that great, in fact he was struggling with it. He looked to be about the age of 19, but he looked a little bit older than that. Besides the stressed looks he was giving from his tie he was actually a very happy, joyful, and calm person. He fixed his glasses right after he finally fixed his tie.

"Ah-hah! Success!" He said in triumph when he was finally able to do it. He gave a cool smile at himself in the mirror. "Hello my name is Keitaro Urashima, nice to meet you." He talked to his own reflection as if it were another in that empty room. "Hmm…that sounds just about right."

"Oy! Keitaro-kun!" Keitaro slowly turned his head and looked at a man dressed much like himself in the doorway. He looked the same age as Keitaro but he had smaller glasses…much smaller glasses, the type you only use for reading. "It's about to start. You'd better get in place." He spoke with sincerity and calmness to Keitaro and kept a smile on for his dear friend.

"Ah, thank you Haitani-kun. I must've lost track of time. " Keitaro looked back into the mirror at himself and fixed his hair. Haitani walked beside him and looked at himself in the mirror as well. "This is it."

"Are you nervous…? Keitaro-kun?" He asked just to make sure he was okay.

"Just a little bit. I mean this IS a wedding. I would be lying if I said I didn't. He replied casually.

"Well Keitaro-kun I really hope that this girl is really the one for you. I mean I don't want you to get hurt you know?"

"Don't worry about me, I'm certain she's the woman for me." Keitaro's eyes started to sparkle with joy. "I really love her, and we've been together for three years now. Keitaro faced Haitani. "How do I look?"

"Like a man who's about to get a ball and chain locked on his leg. "He joked and patted his shoulder.

"Perfect." Keitaro gleamed happily. Well then, let's go…my best man." And with that final comment they both nod and leave together.

-/-/-/-/-/

Keitaro stood by the altar of the church with the best man standing beside him and the bride's maids on the other side of the altar. There were many friends and family members who came to attend this wedding from both sides of the families. There were at least 150 people. In the front row of the groom's side sat Grandma Hina, his mother, his father, and his adopted sister Kanako. They all waved at Keitaro standing there happily waiting for his bride to be. The minister was of an old age, possibly 65 but he looked like he really enjoyed marrying people. He was highly recommended by many people.

And thus the music begins…the classical 'Here comes the bride' song is being played behind the minister on a pipe organ.

A young and beautiful woman begun to slowly walk down the aisle dressed in a gorgeous white wedding gown that started at the side of her shoulders all the way down into a long flowing dress like shape. She held onto a bouquet of flowers close to her heart. Her veil covered her face but anyone could see through it and the massive blush she had on her face. She had short brown hair which stopped down to the bottom of her jaw from the sides and back, the front of her hair barley touched her eyebrows. Her eyes were of a dark brown which from far away looked like black eyes. She looked very beautiful walking down that aisle. Her ages was of the same as Keitaro though she was 2 months younger than him. She was just about 5 cm smaller than him.

Keitaro looked at her with nothing but happiness glowing in his eyes. The quests all stared in awe at her at how gorgeous she just was. Many of the girls couldn't help but feel jealous, especially her close friends who were her 5 bride's maids.

She suddenly stopped in her place half way down the aisle. A look of shock was on her face.

"Huh?" Keitaro took a single step towards her. "What's wrong, Yu-chan?" He couldn't see her face, she lowered it so her hair covered her eyes from his sight. "Yu-chan?" She stayed in her spot, silence filled the room, not a sound was made.

Out of the silence… weeping takes place. It was the bride, she was crying.

"K-Keitaro…I-I'm sorry." She managed to say very quietly.

"What?" Keitaro took a couple more steps in her way again. "Come on Yu-chan…this is our big day together. Don't be nervous." He held out his hand to her with a caring smile. She nervously walked up to him and gently grabbed her hand. She paused though, Keitaro could feel something being put into his hand. "Yu-chan…"

"I'm so very sorry Keitaro…"

And she ran…dropping her bouquet…she ran and never looked back.

"Yu-chan?" He opened his hand and his eyes were in shock at what he saw. It was the engagement ring that he had proposed to her with. The entire situation then came and struck him down and he had realised what had just happened. "YU-CHAN!" He wanted to run for her, he wanted to bring her back and tell her everything was all right, he wanted her to stand by his side, but he couldn't…he couldn't do anything. He couldn't do anything but fall to is knees and cry. His heart had been broken. "Yu-chan…Yu-chan…" Haitani walked to his friend's side to comfort him.

"Keitaro-kun…" He tried to find the right words to cheer up his dear friend, to make him happy again. But nothing he could say would cheer up the broken down man. He was much to hurt.

"I thought…we'd be together forever. I though…he'd have an eternal love together…" Keitaro unconsciously dropped the silver ring onto the ground and was lost in his own thoughts.

On a close up of the silver ring, on the inner part of it was the words;

_'Eternally yours – Keitaro Urashima.'_

-/-/-/-/-/

The next day Keitaro went over to Yu-chan's family home to speak with Yu-chan about the events that occurred personally. But he received news from her mother that she had left with no way of tracing her and knowing where she was. Her family deeply apologized for what had conspired and decided that they'd pay for the entire wedding expenses as a sort of 'sorry'. That didn't bring any happiness to Keitaro though. Money was the least of his worries.

Keitaro returned home, there was nowhere else he wanted to be right now. He sat at the kitchen table on one of the 4 chairs, looking at the engagement ring in his hands, reading over and over the words he had inscribed into it. Doors opened and Haitani entered with a friend of both Keitaro and himself. He was shorter than he was and bared the same type of glasses. He was dressed in a green winter jacket and jeans, Haitani was dressed the same except for a red jacket.

"…" Keitaro said nothing to them but just kept staring at the ring.

"…" The friend looked at Keitaro with sadness. "Keitaro-kun…I'm sorry I wasn't able to make it to your wedding…" He waited a couple of minutes.

"…It's okay…Shirai-kun." Keitaro managed to fake a smile at both of them. "How was your vacation at Okinawa?" Shirau and Haitani seemed a bit joyed.

"It was actually pretty nice. While I was there I met this really nice girl who showed me around. It was great…you should go there sometime Keitaro-kun."

"Yeah…maybe someday…"

They were quiet once again. Shirai decided to break the eerie silence engulfing the room.

"Sorry that she left yo-" He was silenced by Haitani who smacked the back of his head.

"Idiot!" Haitani hissed at Shiari in anger. Shirai quickly realised that he was just making Keitaro feel worse. He really did love that girl.

"Thank you…" Keitaro closed his eyes and put the ring away in his pocket.

At this time Kanako had made her entrance into the kitchen dressed in a long black coat which stopped to her knees. Yes it is very called outside but it isn't winter.

"Good evening Kanako." Both Shirai and Haitani greeted.

"Good evening you two." She directed her attention to Keitaro as he didn't seem to notice Kanako just yet as he stared off into space. "Oni-san?" That caught his attention.

"Hmm? Yes Kanako?" He stared at her with lifeless eyes, this was starting to worry her.

"Grandma Hina wants to have a word with you."

"Is that so?" Keitaro looked behind Kanako from his seat. "Where is she now?"

"I'm right here." Shirai and Haitani shot back in shock gripping their hearts when they saw Grandma Hina suddenly in the seat across from Keitaro. Keitaro slowly moved his eyes to her. "Did I surprise you?"

"…No not really." He answered her like he was half asleep.

"YOU SCARED US!!!"

"YEAH YOU ALMOST SCARED US TO DEATH!!!"

"Oh my, I'm so sorry about that. But it's not my fault you weren't paying attention." She laughed.

"What did you wish to speak to me about anyway?" Keitaro spoke out. Kanako went over beside Keitaro to his left and faced her grandmother as well. Shirai and Haitani stood behind their friends.

"Well I was going to return to Hinata Sou today in a couple of hours and I was thinking." She looked seriously at Keitaro. "I want you to come with me." Kanako twitched.

"W-what? But Grandma Hina." Kanako silenced herself as she knew not to speak against her elders.

"Hinata Sou? That sounds so very familiar." Shirai wondered. "Isn't that where Keitaro made that promise?"

"Now that you mention it. It was also a really big house." Haitani added.

Keitaro thought for a moment all the while looking at his grandmother. "Okay…I'll go with you. I need to get away from this place for a while anyway…" Keitaro sighed and reached into his pant pocket and fiddled with the ring. "Might be a good opportunity to do some studying for Todai."

"Ah then it's settled then!" She looked at Kanako. "Do you want to come too Kanako?"

"Huh?" _Actually that would be great if I could go with Oni-san…but I have something important to do_. "No thank you but I must stay here for a while. I may come on my own later."

"Well then we'll be seeing you right Keitaro-kun?" Shirau patted Keitaro's shoulder.

"We'll still hang out together right?" Haitani patted his other shoulder.

"Or course we will…you're my friends after all."

"Come on Keitaro." Grandma Hina got off her chair and walked towards the door. "We have things to do before we go."

"Okay, coming." Keitaro got off and followed her. Haitani, Shirai, and Kanako waved to him as he left the door. They stood there for minutes only thinking of Keitaro. They were all very worried about him and his well being. It was painful for them to see Keitaro's heart get broken in such a way.

And that was all that was left of the bright young man. He has been left with a big hole in his heart that may never recover. But maybe…just maybe…Hinata Sou could help mend his wounds. This…is the story of his path to love.

**End Prologue.**

**Zero Eiyuu: Ah well umm... honestly I forgot what I said the 1st time before I accidently replaces this chapter so... err... I'm still working on the next chapter. But I'm not EXACTLY because yes I'm working on Chapter 2, but i'm also working on Chapter 3, 4, 5, and 6 so you can see I got my hands full, haha. Well anyway I hope yuo enjoyed this story and will continue to read my story! Please review if you wish!**

**Bye-bye!**


	2. Chapter 1

**(A/N): Sorry for the delay!!!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Love Hina, that belongs to Ken Akamatsu and no one else!**

**Love Hina: The Path Of Love**

**Chapter 1: The Great Hinata Sou**

"So you're just going to site there and do nothing Keitaro?" Grandma Hina stated. Keitaro was seated on a long wooden bench looking at the sketch book he brought with him with his suitcase brown suitcase beside me. "Don't you even want to at least look around? Maybe get to know the area again?"

"It's okay…" Keitaro gripped his book tightly but not tight enough to crumple it. "I'll be fine right here for now, you don't have to worry about me." Keitaro still couldn't forget about the events that transpired yesterday and it ate him inside. Deep down inside Keitaro, with the forgiving soul he possessed, wanted to see his fiancé's face again and tell her that everything was okay. He wanted to tell her that he still loved her.

"Oh Keitaro…" Grandma Hina twirled around and took a couple of steps away from him before she stopped. "You remember the way to Hinata Sou from here I assume."

"Yeah I remember. That's something I couldn't forget." He said with a small smile. _That place holds great memories that I would cherish. And of course that's where I met that girl who I made a promise too. I wonder if I'll ever see her again. _

"Okay then. When should I expect you to be there?"

"About 20 minutes, maybe less. I don't know, I just want to relax for a while."

"Well if that's the case then take your time." She turned her head just enough to see Keitaro. "There will definitely be a warm welcome for you waiting at Hinata Sou." She walked away carrying her own big bag of items. It looked pretty big and heavy but every time Keitaro would offer to carry it she would not let him. It was amazing that she could've carried it, the size was too different, and it must've been 3 times bigger than her.

Keitaro relaxed and took in a deep breathe. "It's been so long since I've been here." Keitaro Reminisced about past memories he had of this place of the good times he'd spent with a very special girl that he made a promise too. In his life he had never forgotten that promise and still holds to keep it. That was just the type of person he was. But as luck would have it he never got into Tokyo University, in fact after 2 tries he still hasn't passed the entrance exams. "Don't worry…I'll keep that promise."

A cold wind blew across his body.

The girl flashed through his mind, the girl from 15 years ago when he made the promise. He took out his sketching pencil and opened his book to a blank page near the center. He started to sketch what he had just seen. Keitaro kept it as a daily routine to draw as much as possible of the girl whenever he had the chance. He couldn't exactly remember how she looked like but he tried. But then another thought crossed his mind while he was drawing.

Yukari.

His fiancé that he was about to marry. When Keitaro was 16 he met her at school while they were paired together to do a project. One thing led to another and they become good friends, then soon girl friend and boy friend. Keitaro fell in love with her the second he laid eyes on her He really thought that she would change his life for the better, and it was like that for a while. He then remembered something that made him angry.

He saw himself alone at the altar.

Rage filled him instantly. He broke his pencil lead from pressing too hard, seems that he didn't realise how hard he was pressing it. The picture looked just like the girl that flashed through his thoughts. Except that there was a lot of broken pencil lead all over where the face should be. He tried to brush it off with his hand lightly but it only smeared it black. He couldn't make out her face anymore. Feeling defeated and stressed him but the book on his lap and pulled out a pencil sharpening and started sharpening. Another cold wind, this time it was stronger, blew across him. The wind blew the pages until it stopped near the beginning of his book at a picture of Yukari in a wedding dress. He instantly closed the book in 1 second.

"…" _I'm feeling so angry right now. But I can't be mad at her, she must've had a very good reason for this… _Keitaro smiled with a sad look. _Maybe she just needs some time…I'm sure of it…_ Feeling a bit calmed down he opened his book again to another blank page next to the one he just drew. _Might as well draw something else since my pencil's sharp. But what?" _

To Keitaro's luck he noticed a girl sitting all the way to his left on a separate bench much like his. She looked down at her own feet in sadness in her green dress-like shirt. This girl had short blue hair with her bangs moving slightly to the sides of her cute face to let her blue eyes show off. She looked to be around 12 by Keitaro's guess. Something really bothered him though; she looked extremely depressed and sad.

_That's so depressing… is that how I've been looking all this time?_ Without really thinking he begun to draw the girl's face on his page. He would once in a while glance at the girl then back at his book to get a better picture. That's when the girl noticed that he was looking at her. She saw him out of the corner of her eye.

_What is he doing…? _He eyed her again and resumed drawing. He had on this intense look of concentration. _Is he drawing me…?_ She noticed that Keitaro had a small smile now. _He looks like a suspicious person…I'm scared… _

He had just completed his sketch of the girl. The picture took up the whole page and was really well drawn. The girl was smiling cheerfully in his picture, the complete opposite of what he saw. Happy with his work he put his pencil back into his pocket and when he did that another wind blew across him. The pages flipped to a picture of Yukari hold out her hand to him with a happy smile. Something snapped in Keitaro though, something made him go crazy. For some reason the sight of Yukari enraged him so much that he wanted to punch through a wall and scream at the top of his lunges. His eyes widened, he grabbed his book and slammed it right into the ground with all of his might. He grinded his teeth fiercely while never keeping his eyes off the book.

"Ah!" The girl screamed out when he did that. Keitaro snapped out of his anger and realized what he had just displayed. He calmed down and tightened his fists.

_Just what the hell am I doing? _Keitaro looked at the girl who looked very scared and now looked directly into Keitaro's eyes. _I scared her… she probably thinks I'm some crazy freak now…_ "S-sorry." Keitaro ran away after grabbing his suitcase and leaving from the scene without his book.

"Sorry?" She stood up and walked towards the book. _His eyes… they looked like he was in so much pain, but he had a look of sincerity. _She was about to pick the book up when the wind blew again and flipped the pages to his picture of her. She gasped at the perfect sketch of her face. He got every feature right about her._ This is me? Smiling…?_ She tried to copy the image of herself but hesitated for a second several times. But she eventually smiles just as the picture showed. _This is so nice…I feel so happy…_ She looked into the direction of where Keitaro went. "I wonder who he was. I'd like to meet him again."

-/-/-/-/-/

"…" Keitaro slowed down and started walking instead. He looked at the suitcase in his left hand and sighed. _Just what was I thinking? I must've looked like some kind of pervert or stalking to her. I hope I didn't scare her too much…I feel bad._ He stopped and looked at his watch on his left wrist. It was 8:22 and he had told Grandma Hina he would be there in 20 minutes 22 minutes ago. "What else is there to do?" He thought for a moment then decided. "I'll go pay Aunt Haruka a visit! Her shop should be near here." Keitaro began walking again in the direction of where Hinata Sou was located. _It's a good thing her place is on the way there._ He wasn't paying much attention when he was walking and accidentally walked into someone. To his surprise he had just walked right into Haruka. He gave a quick look at her. She was wearing her work apron which said 'Haruka's Teashop' on it. Under that she was wearing an ordinary brown shirt and jeans. Keitaro noticed one very important thing about her. "No cigarette today, Aunt Haruka?"

She hit him over the head. Keitaro already knew why she hit him, it was because he called her 'aunt'. He knew how much she hated it and did it on purpose. She truly hated being called aunt by him because she was still fairly young. "It's good to see you too Keitaro." She was actually on her way to buy some cigarettes actually before she bumped into him. She fully knew what had happened to Keitaro as she was actually attending the wedding secretly. "How have you been…?" It took Keitaro a couple of seconds to collect his thoughts.

"I could be better. How are you?" He asked without changing his expression.

"I'm just fine…" She smiled at him and looked behind herself. "Did you come here with Grandma Hina?"

"Yeah actually." He looked behind her in the direction of Hinata Sou. "She wanted me to live with her at Hinata Sou for a while."

"Oh?" She said with interest and eyed him. "For how long?" _And I wonder if she told him all ready…_

"No idea. I was thinking maybe a couple of weeks, that's all. I just need to relax here." Keitaro sighed. "She really wanted me to come and live there. I sure hope it hasn't changed."

"Hmm?" _I guess she DIDN'T tell him. Guess it's my job too._

"Something on your mind?"

"No…nothing really." _Actually he can find out on his own. That's what he gets for calling me 'aunt'._ "You should get to Hinata Sou and talk to Grandma Hina ASAP."

"Why is that?"

"No reason. See you later." And before he knew it she was out of his sights before he could try and pry information from her.

_Too late…ASAP huh? Wonder what's going on…_ While he wondered just what she meant he continued on towards Hinata Sou. It wasn't much further from his current location and would only take minutes to reach. He wondered to himself just how Hinata Sou looked, he hadn't been there for a good 15 years now and memories didn't serve him well. He's never been back there since that time he made that promise to the girl. He still couldn't remember how this mystery girl looked like, or even her name. Memory…didn't seem to take a liking to him…not at all.

Keitaro stopped at the foot of a very long set of stone steps leading all the way up a big hill. It's pathway on the sides were full of thousands of cherry blossom trees that just made the whole scenery so beautiful, so serene, so very peaceful. It made him feel like he wanted time to just stand still as he witnessed this scene. He took his sweet time to walk up those steps to admire the falling cherry blossoms, a peaceful smile on his face the entire time. It brought back great memories for him.

When he finally got to the top he couldn't help but marvel at the place he knew has Hinata Sou. He awed in amazement on how big it was. In the past he knew Hinata Sou was big and he thought it'd seem smaller when he got older… but it still gave him that feeling that he was so very small.

"I guess some things never change." He felt very nostalgic at the sight of it. He quickly ran up to the house in excitement and entered the place. There was no one in his sights, he couldn't even hear anything. It was as if it was completely empty, and that's what he thought.

This is where memory is on his side slightly, he vaguely remembered everything from Hinata Sou from when he was a kid. As Keitaro walked around Hinata Sou to get his memory jogging he begun to remember everything about Hinata Sou. He took a quick glance at the hot springs, walked into the kitchen to see what there was. He gave a quick overview of the complete first floor basically. He headed for the 2nd floor and he knew where Grandma Hina's room was and headed straight for it, ignoring any other room.

He stood outside of her room and looked at the top. There was a sign that read; _Kanrinrin. _Keitaro could hear some moving around. Keitaro gently knocked on the door.

**Knock Knock **

"Come in." the voice of Grandma Hina said. He slid the door open and walked in, sliding it closed behind him. He set his suitcase aside against the wall and looked at her. She was packing some things into 2 different suitcases. Looked mainly like clothes, magazines, and photo albums. Other than that the room was completely clean and everything was set away. "Already done sightseeing huh?"

"Yeah… I didn't want to make you wait." Keitaro sat down and leaned against the wall beside his suitcase. "Planning on going somewhere Grandma Hina?" _By the looks of her luggage it looks like she might be going for a long time._

"Well yes I am." She closed both of her briefcases and looked at Keitaro. "But I have to talk with everyone first. I hope you don't mind." _If all goes according to plan, this will definitely help Keitaro._

"Not at all."

"Well… is Hinata Sou just as you remembered?"

"Yes it is actually. Everything's the same." Keitaro tried to look for his sketch book but then remembered of the recent event with the blue hair girl. He decided to forget about that and the whole thing altogether. "So where am I going to stay? And how much do I have to pay you?"

"Pay?" The mere mention of that word coming from her own kin brought chills through her body. She waved her hands in front of her. "That won't be needed Keitaro."

"Are you sure about that? How are you supposed to make money letting people stay for free?" Keitaro said half jokingly and half serious.

"Of course, I'll get by, don't worry." Seeing as Keitaro would never be able to win this conversation he decided to just give in to Grandma Hina's word.

"If you say so." _She's way too nice, makes me feel bad for staying over here, even though she invited me to come. I'll make sure to sneak her a couple 10 000 yen into her suitcase, that's the least I can do for now._ "Well then, where should I put my things?" Keitaro gave a quick glance at the only suitcase he brought.

"Oh you can just leave your things here for now, I'll decide later."

"Oh, okay…"

"Hey I know, why don't you go and take a nice relaxing bath in the hot springs?"

"Hmm? Why do you say that?" Keitaro asked seeing as Grandma Hina seemed to want him out if his room.

"Well… you seem a little tired and restless, I'm sure the hot springs will make you feel better."

"…" _Now that I think about it that doesn't sound like a bad idea at all._ "Okay."

"There shouldn't be anyone in there right now so you should hurry. Hup to it Keitaro!"

"Right right…" _Geez she doesn't have to rush me like this. But what she just said… are there people in here right now? Hmm… I wonder who they are, I should really introduce myself to them. I AM going to stay here for a bit after all. But first, the hot springs! _

-/-/-/-/-/

Keitaro slowly shank himself into the warm steam waters of the hot springs. He set aside his glasses on the floor next to his head. Tightening his towel around his waist, he laid against the rocks and finally, since the horrible tragedy, he relaxed.

Grandma Hina was right, there was no one to be found in the hot springs, in fact Keitaro didn't even run into anyone in Hinata Sou. He was starting to think that everyone was out or something. But he did find it relaxing to have no one else distract or bother him.

"If there's one thing in this world that can relax me, it's this." Keitaro's whole mind was at ease. He could think of anything or anyone and not be anger by anything right now.

But of all the things he chose to think of… he chose to think of Yukari. He just couldn't get her out of his head, she was his fiancée and that was something big, REALLY big. It wasn't easy for Keitaro to hold this burden within himself, it was impossible for him to forget about her. He still very much loved her in his heart; she always held a place in there. But the pain from her leaving had left a big hole in his heart that still very much tormented him.

Keitaro's mind was clear, he wanted to just forget all his troubles… all of his pain… he just wanted to forget everything and lose himself in the hot springs. Before long he was slowly starting to fall asleep. But the sounds of foot steps… that kept him wide awake.

Quickly, Keitaro snatched his glasses off the floor and stood up looking around with his glasses on. He looked where he heard the footsteps and was completely dumbfounded at who was walking to him.

_What the?! Who the heck is she?! _

What he saw really surprised him. There, standing wrapped only in a towel, was a beautiful young woman who gave Keitaro a cute smile like he was his boyfriend. She looked around to be the same age as Keitaro, probably younger though. She whipped her long hair to the side and let her dark brown eyes sparkle. Keitaro was left in awe.

_Wow… she's so beautiful… _Keitaro was too shocked and stunned to do anything in this situation. Sure he had a fiancée and all and he was sort of used to things like this. But this… this had a different effect on him. _What are you thinking Keitaro!? You're still engaged you know that!? This is unacceptable! We gatta get out of here and fast!!! _

"Ahh…" the girl sighs in relief right next to Keitaro.

"Eh?"

The girl slowly sank beside him and laid her back against the rocks as well. She looked up at the sky with a calm and serene look as if Keitaro wasn't even there. Keitaro controlled himself to not look at her body because up close like this he would practically see everything. And the funny thing was that she didn't look like she minded at all. Keitaro decided that he should leave right now.

"You know I didn't expect you to be in here alone, and so early too. Isn't it better bathing together like this?" She kept looked up at the sky.

_Is she talking to me…? Well duh! I'm the only one here; of course she's talking to me… _

"Hey Kitsune…"

_Kitsune…? OH! She thinks I'm this Kitsune person. Well we'll be able to… WHOA!!! _

This young woman completely revealed herself to him on purpose with a calm look.

"I think my breasts have gotten bigger."

_Holy crap! Who IS this Kitsune person?! _

"Uhh…" Was all Keitaro could muster up.

"They'll never be as big as yours though. Come on, let's give em a squeeze!" She lunged herself towards him, but Keitaro finally snapped out and reacted and firmly grabbed her shoulders to stop her in her place. She looked at his arms in surprise and definitely looked confused.

"Excuse me but…" He calmly said, at the same time the girl slowly put a pair of round glasses on. Keitaro let go of her. "There must be some sort of misunder-"

"KYAHHHHHHHH!" The girl closed her eyes and screamed in horror at the top of her lungs. Keitaro had to cover his ears to relieve himself from her blasted shriek.

"Hey! What was that for?! It was you who-"

"PERVERT!!!"

_I'd better straighten this thing out pronto! I need to calm her down first! _

"Excuse me ms but-" Keitaro didn't even move an inch towards the girl.

"Don't touch me!" She reeled back her fist and was ready to give Keitaro a major punch. Keitaro didn't think this would hurt and continue to try and calm her down.

"Wait, you don't underst-"

"NARU PUNCH!"

_Naru punch?---GAHHHHHHHH! _

Before he would react, she landed her fierce punch cleanly to the side of his face. The force of her attack sent him flying straight towards the change room, right through the door. He accidentally landed right on top of another woman wrapped in a towel. After he collected himself he got to his feet and grabbed her hands, helping her up.

"Sorry!" Keitaro gave a quick glance at the woman before him. She had short blonde hair, tall, and most likely was around his age. It took him a while to notice, but he was still holding onto her hands, he let go the second he noticed. "S-sorry!" The girl just looked really confused.

"And you are…?"

"No time to explain!" Keitaro dashed right past the woman in a great speed, tightly grabbed into his towel to make sure it stayed in place. The girl who punched Keitaro right into the change room and confronted the girl. "Who was that Naru?"

"I don't know Kitsune but he's a pervert! You should've stopped him!"

"Pervert?" _I don't know about that... he doesn't seem like the perverted type. Also… he looks very familiar. _

"Come on, let's get him!" The girl named Naru's mood changed drastically, her eyes were filled with anger and bloodlust while she cracked her knuckles.

Back with Keitaro he managed to reach the side of the stairs that lead to the 2nd floor near the front. He was still only wrapped in his towel, and he was dripping a trail of water all across the floor with his own footsteps.

"Gees, that was crazy. I really need to talk with Grandma Hina about this." Keitaro took a few steps up the stairs but stopped when he felt a strange feeling. It felt like there was a presence of great power near him and it wanted to do much harm to him. He looked around and saw a girl far away slowly walking towards him. She was dressed in a white and red kendo gi with a sword firmly held in her right hand. She looked right up at Keitaro with intense fiery eyes that would only come from someone who truly hated and despised men.

"Trespassing will not be accepted, prepare for the consequences." Keitaro noticed that she wielded a very dangerous looking sword in her right hand, it was emitting a yellow electrical current through it from what he saw. "Ougi Raimeiken!!!" The woman ran and jumped towards Keitaro slashing her sword right at him.

_HOLY CRAP!_ He was fast and smart enough to run away from the attack upstairs. The woman slashed the stairs and broke the side bars. She held back her power the second she knew she would miss. Looking up the stairs at Keitaro she begun to run at him. Keitaro just kept running away up the stairs and down the halls. _That was a Shinmeiryuu Sword Technique! If she knows the Shinmeiryuu style of kenjutsu then I'm in trouble! _

"Get back here and receive your punishment trespasser!" Keitaro was fast and was running slightly faster than the woman who pursuited him. Keitaro turned a corning and begun to run again. The woman also turned the corner and realized that she wouldn't catch up to Keitaro at this rate. Her sword was emitting a power again. "Hiken Zankūsen!!!" She sent a large intensely concentrated ki straight through the hall. _He won't be able to dodge that. This won't kill him, but it will hurt like nothing he's ever felt before. _

_Did I just hear her say Hiken Zankūsen?! Crap! I got no choice then, I'm gonna have to do what sensei taught me!_ Keitaro skidded to an abrupt stop, turned around and held out his arms to block his body._ Okay bring it on!_

_What is he doing?_ The woman watched curiously_ without moving. _

The ki blast made a direct attack right in the center of Keitaro's arms, cutting them slightly, and sent him straight down the hall like a bullet. He went extremely far and fast then bashed right through the doors of one of the resident's rooms. He went about half way into the room before he came to a tumbling stop from the ki blast. Surprisingly after all of that his towel managed to emerge unscathed and still tightly wrapped around Keitaro.

He shook his head and got to his feet slowly. The wind was almost knocked out of him but his body was strong and he could take it. _It's a good thing I had training with sensei or else I would be seriously hurt… now…_ Keitaro looked at his surroundings with bulged eyes._ WHERE AM I?! _

Keitaro was surrounded by what looked to be a tropical jungle. Nothing but plants surrounded him. He looked behind but didn't see where he came from. He was lost in this jungle; it was a whole new world for him. He needed to get out for he couldn't grasp the dangers that awaited him in this jungle.

_Okay Keitaro, just stay calm and everything will work out. Just gatta stay cool…_ Keitaro rested his arm on a large fully grown tree as he thought. He didn't notice that the tree made a strange light buzzing noise, like a mechanical device. _At least I'm safe from that Shinmeiryuu girl for now._

"INTRUDER ALERT"

"Hmm?" Keitaro looked at the tree. "Did this tree just talk?" He removed his hand and realized he actually put his hand over a bug. He took a closer look and saw it was a mechanical bug with glowing red eyes. "What the…"

"ACTIVATING CAPTURE PROCESS" The mechanical bug said.

_I got a bad feeling about this…_

All around him in a big circle, the floor tiles opened up and huge mechanical arms stretched out all around Keitaro. All of them held very high-tech sci-fi looking guns all aimed right at Keitaro's head. He froze up in place from fear; he couldn't and didn't want to move at all.

_I got a REALLY bad feeling about this…_

Behind him though a mechanical arm stretched out and held a small wooden mallet between its fingers. It hit Keitaro over the back of his head and knocked him out onto the floor. He was unconscious.

"Huh? Who's this person?" A mysterious girl walked up to Keitaro's unconscious body.

-/-/-/-/-/

Just about 10 minutes later Keitaro found himself lying in a bed, someone else's bed. He slowly sat up and looked around; he was still surrounded by many plants and oddly enough tons of bananas. Off to his right side he could notice a large box that was labeled 'Hinarei'.

"Good, you're awake." A girl said softly. Keitaro felt the girl grab his hand from the other side of the bed, he looked over at her. She looked to be around 13-years-old, dressed in a sailor school uniform, had dirty blonde hair, and green eyes. She looked like a nice and calm girl. "Oh, my name's Kaolla Su, you can call me Su."

Keitaro looked down at himself saw he was still wearing his towel. "Oh… uhh… hi Su." The girl named Su poke and prodded at Keitaro's entire arm. "Umm, what are you doing?"

"Just checking up on you. By the way what's your name?"

"Umm… Keitaro Urashima. Wait a minute, I'm okay. There's no need to check on me."

"No, I know that. That's what I'm amazed at. I saw my surveillance tapes of you and Motoko. Just how could you take such a attack I wonder…"

"I don't know, I've always had a strong body. And my sensei taught me a lot."

"Well it's decided!"

"Huh?! What?!" Su hugged Keitaro tightly suddenly.

"You're gonna be my new test subject from now own Keitawo!" She yelled out with such happiness. It was certainly cute, but Su's embraced on Keitaro was very tight. Plus the thought of being a test subject for whatever she had in mind didn't really comfort

_Just what the heck is the girl talking about?!_

A familiar voice called out from the jungle in this room.

"Su! There's a pervert in your room! Be careful!" It was definitely the girl who attacked Keitaro previously. The sounds of her slashing through bushes and leaves could be heard, and they were getting close. "And tell me where you are! I'm lost!"

"Hmm? Is Motoko after you test subject?" Su asked innocently.

_Motoko?! That must be Motoko Aoyama! I'm in big trouble if she finds me in here!_ Keitaro grabbed Su's shoulders and shook her lightly. "You gatta get me out of here Su!"

"Okay that can be arranged! Just stand right there!" Su pointed over beside the bed on the left side. Keitaro walked over and stood over a tile that had a yellow painted happy face on it.

"Right, now what?"

"Now..." Su pulled out a simple remote with a simple red button on it. She lightly hovered over the button with her finger and smiled at Keitaro. "YOU GO FLYING!!!"

"What?" Keitaro looked too dumfounded to fully grasp exactly what she meant.

The floor abruptly sprung up instantly about 5 meters up, sending Keitaro high up into the air and right through the ceiling.

"Try to land on the target!!!" Su yelled out to Keitaro.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Keitaro was launched high up into the air, way above Hinata Sou. From far away Keitaro would look like some kind of bird flying into the air and diving down!

"This isn't good…" Keitaro started to fall on a different area of the place, he was headed straight for a big blue, white, and red target painted on the flat roof. "If I land on that from here like this I'm dead!" _What can I do what can I do?! _

Luckily for Keitaro in the center of the target, a big air pad suddenly inflated right in a big boom. It was the size of the target itself and looked to be strong enough to take in Keitaro's impact on it. He landed straight into the center of the pad safely. Rolling over on the air pad he faced up to the sky and sighed.

_Thank god I'm alive… Wait a minute… is that… _Keitaro looked into the distance and saw something flying towards him in the air. _Su?_

"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!"

"Su?! What the-?!" Before he could even move, he couldn't anyway; she landed right on top of Keitaro in a big crash. As a result of the force of her impact in combination of Keitaro, the entire roof under them collapsed and they both went crashing down through the roof. As the dust cleared from the wreck Keitaro got to his feet and looked at Su. She was lying on top of the deflated pad with a happy smile. Keitaro couldn't believe it. "Why did you do THAT for?!" Keitaro demanded an answer from her. _This had better be good!_

"Because it was fun!" She says happily like it was nothing.

_What…? Okay that's just too strange._ He looked around at his surroundings and noticed they landed right in front of the Kanrinrin's room. What luck for Keitaro, just where he wanted to be.

The door of the Kanrinrin's room opened up and Grandma Hina looked straight at Keitaro standing there all disoriented. She threw him his clean clothes and felt her temples. "You'd better get dressed."

"Huh?" To Keitaro's surprise… his towel was missing in action. "Oh god! Sorry!"

"It's okay it's okay… just hurry up before anyone else see's you."

"There you are!" Too late, the group of girls came running into the scene. Keitaro was only able to put his pants on half way up, but he covered himself nonetheless. "Su! Landlord! Step away from that male." The woman held out her sword pointing at Keitaro.

"Oh so I see you've met my grandson." Grandma Hina said to every one of the girls. The whole area becomes deathly silent for a couple of minutes.

"GRANDSON?!"

-/-/-/-/-/

Keitaro was seated on the very end of the table with the rest of the girls sitting across from him. All but Su were giving him some deadly stares that made him feel uncomfortable. Grandma Hina told them all to wait there while she got something important. Haruka was also there and in that time she also told Keitaro each of these girl's names. Haruka stood behind Keitaro.

Naru Narusegawa, the girl Keitaro was in the hot springs with. She was actually 17 years old and was aiming for Tokyo University. She was really smart according to Grandma Hina.

Mitsune Konno, a.k.a. Kitsune was the girl who Keitaro ran into next. Apparently she loves saké, is a freelance journalist, and has a mischievous little habit to play pranks.

Motoko Aoyama, the sword wielding girl. To Keitaro's surprise she was only 15 and had a great deal of knowledge of the Shinmeiryuu. She completely despises males for some odd reason that Grandma Hina doesn't know.

Kaolla Su, Keitaro already knew a little about her. She is, according to Grandma Hina, very hyperactive, is a mechanical genius from an unknown foreign country that Su never told anyone.

Though Keitaro knew all of this he still found it hard to have a normal conversation with them. The atmosphere really was all to inviting, mainly to him.

"…" Motoko didn't stop on giving him such intense looks that made it clear that she didn't like him at all. _Him? A relative of such a saint such as our Landlord? This just can't be…_

"Sorry to have kept you waiting." All attention turned over to Grandma Hina as she took a seat right beside Keitaro. She held some papers in her hands. She was smiling a little. "Okay, I know you all would like to know why I've called this meeting." Everyone was waiting; their silence showed that she was right. "Well as you all know I've planned to travel around the world." Everyone nodded to acknowledge her. "And I've been thinking on who should be the new landlord while I'm gone."

_So this is why she called the meeting. No doubt Haruka will be the new landlord. _Keitaro thought to himself. Grandma Hina held the papers towards what looked like Haruka.

"I choose you, Keitaro." Keitaro was speechless, actually everyone was. But Haruka didn't seem phased at this at all. "This is the deed to Hinata Sou, I give it to you."

Motoko and Naru looked like they were on the verge of blowing their heads. Their anger was quickly growing at all the problems with what their landlord was doing. How could she choose a male to run an all girls' dormitory like Hinata Sou? This was all too much for everyone.

_This is completely unacceptable! I won't accept this male as our landlord! I'd rather die than this! How could she do such a thing?!_ Motoko roared in her mind.

_He's a complete pervert! What is she thinking making such a guy our landlord! None of us is going to take this sitting down!_ Naru screamed in her thoughts.

Both Motoko and Naru stood up abruptly and took deep breathes to say what was on their minds.

**BAMM!!!**

"I will not accept!"

Everyone… even Haruka and Grandma Hina… were surprise at how Keitaro reacted to this. He had his fist tightly pressed against the table. His teeth were gritted so tightly. His eyes showed so much anger in them.

"But…" Grandma Hina felt hurt at this.

"I'm sorry Grandma Hina but I can't!" Keitaro stood up and walked away. Before he left the room he muttered to himself but was loud enough for everyone to hear. "I've had enough for today…"

**End Chapter 1**

**Zero Eiyuu: **_Sorry I was in a really big hurry when I was writing this. Really hope you enjoyed the story and all, sorry if it was so long and just kept running on and on. But oh well. Plese continue to read my story as it progresses! I promise you this will be a great story that will last a long time. Until next time. Please review if you can._

_Sayonara Minna-san._


	3. Chapter 2

**(A/N): Umm…sorry for the delay… I'm trying to get these chapters up as fast as I can but when I'm typing them up, after one page I get bored and go do something else, haha… gomenasai… Also if you see any problems, you know spelling and grammer n' stuff, please tell me cause I don't usually have someone read this first XD. Very little changes has been made.**

**Disclaimer: Me own Love Hina? Well that's not true; Love Hina belongs to Ken Akamatsu and no one else.**

Grandma Hina stood outside of her room quietly waiting. She knew that Keitaro had taken refuge in her room; she knew that this was the only place right now that he felt secure. It was the same as when Keitaro was just a child and had first come to visit her so long ago. To her… Keitaro was still that child 15 years ago.

_It looks like my plan has backfired… how unfortunate_. Things had just become just a bit complicated now. She let out a sigh and rested her hand on her door quietly. "Keitaro…"

"I'm sorry Grandma Hina… I just…" Keitaro paused to think about what he just done downstairs. "I can't do that... to work here... to live here with such... crazy girls. Except that Kitsune girl, she's the only one who seems to be normal..."

Oh, is he in for it then. He just didn't get to know Kitsune enough. "Keitaro, it's not like I'm trying to hurt you or anything, I'm just trying to do what's best for you. And right now it's to keep your mind off those terrible things."

"It's not easy... It's not easy at all for me..."

"Tell you what Keitaro. How about you spend the night here at Hinata Sou first then decide if you want to run it, okay?"

"I don't see the point... my mind is already made up. I definitely do not want to run Hinata Sou..."

"Oh Keitaro..." Hopefully you'll have a change of heart very soon.

The day went by slowly for Keitaro; he didn't really want to leave his Grandmother's room at all. He just didn't want to have to comfort the girls; their previous encounters were just too much for him in his current state. He didn't even want to leave to eat when Grandma Hina went to get him. What he was doing though... he was just lying on the ground staring into the ceiling the whole time, all up until he fell asleep. But this gave him a lot of time to think, to think about what Grandma Hina was asking of him. His decision was still the same though; he would not run Hinata Sou. He still had other matters to deal with.

But sometimes things you don't want to happen WILL happen no matter what. Some may call it destiny...some may call this fate... but in Keitaro's case... it's called Grandma Hina.

**Love Hina: The Path of Love**

**Chapter 2: The Perks**

_"Hey... Kei-kun...?" Keitaro is asked from the darkness of the night, not being able to see anything as the moon was covered by clouds._

_"Yes...?"_

_"I was wondering something."_

_"What's on your mind?" Keitaro asked as he looked at the silhouette of a female figure approach him slowly._

_"You love me right...?"_

_"..." Keitaro paused for the moment and gave a look of sheer surprise. But it wasn't like this person could see that anyway. "You already know that, heh." He smiled and held out his hand, grasping the woman's soft hands. "Of course I love you."_

_"Would you always love me... no matter what?" The woman's voice whispered softly._

_Keitaro thought for a second and waited as the moon now shined upon them. He could now clearly see the face of this woman with that blush on her face. "Always... you have my word... Yukari."_

-/-/-/-/-/

Keitaro opened his eyes suddenly and finally awoke from his dream. He couldn't describe what he was feeling right now, he was so unsure of himself lately. He didn't know WHAT he was going to do any more; things just were so complicated for him. The events from yesterday didn't exactly help with his stress either. And the thought of being the landlord of Hinata Sou… that was the LAST thing he wanted right now.

Reaching across the floor for his glasses he glanced at his watch, still lying in his futon he laid out. "Hmm… 9:00AM." _Obviously the long I stay here the worst things will be. I need to have a nice long chat with Grandma Hina… alone._ He let out a groan and lazily got himself out of bed to get dressed into his casual jeans and polo grey shirt. "Besides… staying in this place with such got headed girls would be bad for my well being."

"Hot headed?!" A loud voice yelled above Keitaro. The voice was quickly silenced though.

"That was weird…" He glanced all around the room then quickly scanned the ceiling. He noticed there was a rather big hole in the ceiling. Going under it he saw something was blocking the hole, like a big wood plank. He tried pushing it away but just couldn't, there was a lot of pressure keeping it in place. He gave up on that. "Strange…" I'll investigate that later I guess. But first I'd better look for Grandma Hina

-/-/-/-/-/

"That's horrible!!!" Su yelled out with great anger.

Su, Kitsune, Motoko, and Haruka where all together seated in the kitchen table. Haruka had just explained the entire situation that Keitaro was in to the girls. Haruka was not surprised to get such shocked looks from them. However you couldn't tell with Motoko, she didn't look phased by the story one bit.

"Wow… that's something…"

"Yeah, but he must've done something wrong to make her do that."

"I can't believe this! What kind of woman just does that?!"

"Su! Just calm down." Haruka went and held Su by her shoulders, she calmed down and relaxed. "Good… now look. I want you all to take it easy on him okay? He's going through a really hard time right now. I don't want to have to worry about him." Who knows, if things get worse he may think of… suicide… NO! Keitaro wouldn't do such a thing.

"But he's a male!" Motoko protested harshly. "He has no place here!" Who knows what he'd do here. "This is a girl's dorm for Kame's sake!"

**BAMM!**

Haruka slammed her palm onto the table. This shook up all 3 of them. "Please! He's been through too much! Don't make things harder for him!"

"But he's a per-"

"Keitaro is NOT a pervert. I've known him since he was just a little kid. He's not that kind of person."

"You know I'm pretty sure she's right." Haruka and Motoko faced Kitsune. Su was busy spinning around bashing Yukari in her head. "I mean, he didn't react like other guys around us, for one. I mean in all this time of seeing me and Naru naked and all, I never saw him really react to that."

"That's because Keitaro's different." Haruka sighed. "Some may think he's a pervert, but he's just very clumsy and is very accident prone." She stared off into a daze. "Just be nice to him…"

It just so happens to Keitaro walked by the doorway just as they were done talking. He peered into the kitchen and saw the girls. He was about to go in and have a nice chat, but the sight of Motoko sent chills down his spine. The glare she was giving him didn't seem so inviting either. He didn't bother to walk in. "Umm... any of you know where Grandma Hina is right now?"

"Grandma Hina?" Haruka repeated and thought for a second. "Sorry, can't help you there. Haven't seen her since yesterday."

"Oh…okay then. Well… could you tell her that I need to talk to her if you see her?" Keitaro asks, only looking at Haruka.

"Of course."

"Thanks."

Haruka saw what he was wearing. "You going somewhere?"

"Yeah, just out for a bit. I can't stay cooped up in this place." He scratched the back of his head with a smile.

"Okay then. Just come back soon okay?" She waved him off and wanted until she heard him leaving. She heard the front door shut. "He acts calm… but in reality… he's being eaten inside…"

In that instant Naru decided to walk into the scene completely unaware of everything that happened. The 4 of them knew they would have to explain everything to her.

-/-/-/-/-/

The blue haired little girl from yesterday sat on the bench that Keitaro had taken before, in the exact same spot. She was dressed exactly the same and held Keitaro's sketchbook in her arms. She'd been there since 7:30; she didn't want to be home right now. Things were not okay back at home when her father appeared.

"Why do they always have to fight…?" She was on the verge of crying her little heart out. Thinking of her issues at home really tore her up inside. She couldn't stand it. _Just… what do I do? What CAN I do?_ She was going through a lot of torment in her life; her parents were the cause of it all. They were so inconsiderate of their only daughter's feelings in her eyes. She just wanted to cry. Tears started to form under her eyes.

"It's you…" The girl looked up and saw the concerned look of Keitaro looking down on her. "Why are you crying?" The girl wiped away the tears that almost rolled down her face, feeling a little embarrassed. "I hope I wasn't the one who made you cry."

"N-no it wasn't!" She shyly said.

"Good… I'm glad." Keitaro took a seat right beside her, staring off into the distance. "Sure is a nice day..." The girl looked down at her lap at the sketchbook.

"Umm… excuse me?" She got his attention and held his sketchbook to him.

"My sketchbook!" He happily accepted his book back. "Thank you very much…umm…" It occurred to him that he didn't know what her name was. She realised this though as she was thinking the same thing.

"Shinobu Maehara."

"Ah, thank you Shinobu-chan." Shinobu felt embarrassed in this situation, her face was fiercely turning bright red. _It's still in perfect condition too… I wonder if she looked inside…_ With this question going through his head he gave Shinobu a suspicious look.

"Ano…" _Why is he looking at me like that? Does he know I saw his picture of me? Oh my god I knew I shouldn't have done that! He's going to hate me!!!_

It's nothing, just thinking." _It's no big deal I guess. I mean she did return it to me. Besides it was a drawing of her, not like I had any right to draw her anyway._

"…" Shinobu smiled, got up, and began to walk away.

"Wait!" She didn't even get 3 steps away from the bench when Keitaro called out to her. She turned and faced him questionably. "Are you busy right now?"

"Huh…? N-no." She said nervously and just a bit excited. _What are you getting so excited about? It's not like he's going to ask us out._

"Would you like to go and grab a bite to eat with me?" Keitaro his hand in front of him. "My treat of course."

Shinobu looked at him dumbfounded. Her heart was racing and she couldn't keep her eyes off of Keitaro. But she managed to gather her composer and gave another cute smile. "I'd love too."

_This is the least I can do too thank her._

-/-/-/-/-/

Shinobu and Keitaro were seated across from each other on a two person circle table. The place wasn't really packed or anything, there must've been only 5 other people there. Only 1 female waitress was going around taking orders and serving them their food. Shinobu and Keitaro had to wait for their turn to be served.

"Oh my how rude of me, I forgot to introduce myself." _Boy is THAT embarrassing,_ "I'm Keitaro Urashima. Nice to meet you Shinobu-chan.

"N-nice to meet you too, Keitaro-sempai."

"Sempai?" The mere thought of him being called sempai made him laugh inside. "I don't think that's necessary. I mean I'm still trying to get into Tokyo University."

"I know but I'm only an middle schooler, and you're already going into university. Calling you sempai would only be proper, being so much higher than me in school…" Several seconds later the information processed in her head. "You're aiming for Tokyo University?!" She looked like she was ready to jump out of her seat from excitement and amazement. "That's the top University in Japan! You must be in the top percentage if you're aiming for that!"

Truth be told Keitaro was WAY under the passing grade.

"Heh… umm, not really." _Wish I didn't have to dig THIS up from the past._ "I've actually failed to get in… twice already." Shinobu calmed down, her excitement diminished as well. "BUT… That doesn't stop me from trying and trying. The point is to never give up on your goals no matter how hard it may seem. No matter how much suffering, heartbreak, and pain I go through. That is what I think." What he had just said really clicked in her head. It made her think of her own problems back and home and how she should deal with things. Shinobu would remember these words always. "Enough about me though. Tell me a little about yourself Shinobu-chan."

"Well…" she trailed off when the waitress had finally come up to them. She had short black hair, bangs that stopped right on her eyebrows, and emerald green eyes that looked very calm. She wore a normal black t-shirt and jeans. She held up her little notebook to take their orders.

"What can I get you two?"

"Beef bowl for me please." Keitaro ordered and looked at Shinobu.

"Alright. And you miss?" She glanced at Shinobu and kept her sights on her notebook to take her order down.

"Huh? Me? Oh no, I'm not hungry."

**Grrrrrrrrrrroowl**

Shinobu covered her stomach in embarrassment, her face went completely red. Both Keitaro and the waitress laughed her Shinobu's stomach. It was loud enough for everyone there to hear.

"Y-you sure about that Shinobu-chan?" Keitaro laughed.

"Auuu…" _Oh my gosh… please keep it down stomach. Look what you've done to me now!_ "Ano… maybe I'll have the miso soup…"

"Okay. Coming right up!" The waitress laughed a bit in what she said and walked away. _What a cute looking couple._

"'Not hungry' huh? Looks like your stomach disagreed with you there, hah!" He stated to tease her a little.

"Auu, I almost died of embarrassment."

"I could see that, heh." Keitaro paused. "What were you about to say before she came?"

"Oh… that's…" Her mood changed and turned depressed, it wasn't a pleasant sight for Keitaro. "What is there to say? I'm 12-years-old, I love to cook, and I'll be moving soon…"

The last part of her little sentence got caught in his mind. "What? You're moving? Why?"

"Well you see… my parents… they're separated. And on that case they've decided to leave this place and sell our old home." She looked out the window to their side at the many people walking by. "It's not like I want to leave here, I want to stay here. To be able to stay at my school with my friends, to be able to live in such a peaceful place." Her sights shifted over to Keitaro. "To see and talk to you again."

"Shinobu-chan…"

Keitaro couldn't fully grasp how Shinobu was feeling, but he did understand her. He went through a similar thing in his life, not so tragic, but similar in some ways. He didn't know what he could do for her, he wanted to help her for sure. But just what could he do? He needed to do some thinking about this. He just didn't want Shinobu to be sad anymore.

The waitress came up and placed their orders right in front of them with a smile. "Enjoy."

"Ah, arigato gozaimasu." Keitaro looked back at Shinobu. "Come on, let's eat."

"Huh?" She wasn't exactly paying much attention; she was lost in thought for the moment. "H-hai!"

And so they ate together. Keitaro of course was eating slowly, mainly due to the fact on how fast Shinobu was going through her miso soup. She was REALLY hungry it would seem. In any case this really amused him but he had to eat fast if he wanted to keep up with her.

Once they were finished eating, Keitaro paid the bill and they left together. Heading back to the bench where he confronted her they sat down side by side.

"Thank you for treating me, sempai."

_Hmm? How did it suddenly get straight to just 'sempai'?_ "No problem Shinobu-chan." Keitaro flipped through his sketchbook and stopped on the sketch of Shinobu from yesterday. Carefully he ripped it out and handed it to Shinobu. "I want you to have this Shinobu-chan."

"What?" Shinobu nervously took the picture and got a good look at it. "Are you sure about this? I mean, it's a really well drawn drawing."

"It's okay. Seeing the real smile is good enough for me." He smiled at her, giving her a gentle look. "That smile you gave me when you took me up on my offer to treat you. For some reason your smile has really brightened up my day you know that?" He looked up at the sky slightly but mainly kept her in his vision. "I'm sure others would feel the same… promise you'll smile more, okay?"

"Shinobu felt as though she was going to cry. She never had anyone be so nice to her in her life. She was feeling things that she couldn't describe thanks to him. "I will… sempai." She stood up and bowed to him. "I'm sorry but I should be going now."

"Aww… okay then."

"Good-bye sempai."

"Good-bye Shinobu-chan." As he watched her walk away he couldn't hold back the sad feelings he had for her. A 12-year-old girl moving from a town she probably love her whole life, having divorced parents who she thought would stay together forever. To have a family just break up like that in her life. This was all very hard for her. But what could he do? …_Maybe Grandma Hina is back at Hinata Sou._

-/-/-/-/-/

"Ah, Keitaro. Finally back I see." Haruka greeted him when he walked up the stairs that lead to Hinata Sou. Seemed that she was waiting for him at the top of the stairs for a while now, smoking her cigarette. She still had that emotionless expression though, Keitaro would never tell how his aunt was feeling or thinking.

"Any sign of Grandma Hina?" He walks up beside her and they both go towards the front door.

"You could say that." She took one last drag, dropped it to the ground, and then stomped it out. "Let's go to the kitchen."

He follower her into Hinata Sou and into the kitchen. He paused when Haruka walked in before him because he saw the rest of the girls in there as well. Seeing as Motoko wasn't currently giving him the evil eye he was able to go in, still a bit scared and nervous though. But one thing bothered him; Grandma Hina was nowhere to be found. He took a seat at the end with Haruka standing beside him. She through a pile of papers in front of him, he knew exactly what this was.

"I thought I made myself clear last time?" He let out with a sigh, grabbed the papers, and straightened them out. _Having to run this place would just be like some sort of nightmare._ "Did she give these to you personally?"

"No actually. I found these in my shop in the morning after you left. She also left a letter for you. I've already read this to everyone. She threw him a letter with a broken seal. Keitaro would notice the disappointing looks from the girls… well except for Su, she looked pretty such happy.

Keitaro took it and began to read it out loudly.

_Dear Keitaro, Haruka, and girls,_

_Sorry to have left so suddenly and all but I honestly had no choice in the matter. Sorry Keitaro that I've done this to you but trust me… this is for your own good. I have already signed over Hinata Sou onto your name, congratulations you're officially the new Hinata Sou landlord., never thought you'd own such a place I'm guessing. This should be a treat. This works well for you too you know? You don't have to pay any rent, you're closer to your prep school, and you've got a lot of nice girls to keep you company. Please understand how they feel. They've got a lot of things going on with their lives too._

_Haruka you'd better take care of these kids while I'm gone. Make sure they don't do anything illegal or anything I wouldn't approve of. Oh yeah there's no smoking in Hinata Sou, you'll have to put that out._

_Girls… please don't make things any harder for Keitaro; he's very sensitive right now. He could sure use the comfort of those around him, please support him. I'm counter on you girls to make sure that Keitaro is fine when I come back. Keep a strong head on your shoulders now._

_Remember Keitaro you have complete authority here now, you can do what you wish with Hinata Sou as you see fit. After all, you ARE the owner now._

_See you in a few years._

_---Grandma Hina---_

Everyone was speechless. Of all of these people the only one who seemed happy was Su. Actually deep inside she was REALLY happy and excited.

"Haruka…" Keitaro whispered. "Could you… do me a favour?"

_Hey, I know what he's thinking._ "Sorry Keitaro, I can't take Hinata Sou off your hands. I got my hands full with my teashop already."

"No, that's not it at all." He looks up at her. "Do you happen to know where the Maehara residence is?"

"Maehara?" Haruka questioned. _Strange, I was sure that Keitaro would've burst out again, why the sudden change? Maehara… I've heard of them from some of my costumers… Oh wait, I know where they live, was in the back of my mind._ "Yeah I do. Why though?"

"There's someone I need to talk too. Could you bring me there?"

Haruka could tell how serious Keitaro was. He was speaking as if this was the most important thing in his life. "Okay, I'll bring you there." She turned to the girls. "You girls stay here, understood?"

"You can trust us." Kitsune said happily. _Yeah, like I'm really gonna stay here. I gatta see what's going on here._

"Yeah, we know what to do." Naru agreed along side of Kitsune. _Kitsune, you're planning on following them aren't you? Might as well tag along too._

Motoko looked at the 2 girls and could only shake her head. She knew what they were thinking and what they were going to do. _Looks like I won't be able to stop them, oh well._

Su wasn't paying attention at all and was just thinking about bananas in her mind the whole time._ Oh, I wonder how many I can eat today; maybe I'll break my record! _While she was thinking of those banana related things, Haruka and Keitaro had left. _Hey! Where are they going?! Must follow and spy like a ninja!_

-/-/-/-/-/

Shinobu Maehara sat alone in her room. All her things had been packed up neatly into there boxes. Her room was nearly empty except for her table where she was sitting at. She looked down at her table at the picture that Keitaro had given her. On the side she was actually drawing something herself. She'd been working on this ever since she left Keitaro and was doing a good job on her drawing. There were other reasons why she was doing this though… it as the only way she could drawn ou the arguments of her parents out by the front door within the house.

_Just a bit of shading here…. And there… darken this line and-_

"I thought I told you to get the hell out!" yelled Mrs. Maehara from outside. "Just go away and never come back!"

"What? Is it a crime just to come see my daughter?!"

"I told you to leave, you bum!"

"Me?! The bum?! What about you?! You don't even have a job!"

"Shut up!"

"How are you suppose to support Shinobu-chan?!"

"Go to hell, I'll get by okay!?"

"For God's sake think about Shinobu-chan!"

"Shut up! Don't tell me how to raise my daughter!"

"She's my daughter too!"

These were the things Shinobu had to deal with just about everyday when her father came to see her. Seeing and hearing her parents fight like this always made her want to cry, at many times she had. No one, especially someone so young, would want their parents to fight like this. Shinobu was no exception.

_Done…_ Shinobu put down her pencil and admired her own drawing._ It's not as good as sempais… but… _She blushed at her own drawing and put it under Keitaro's. _Sempai… I wish I could just see you one more time…  
_

**DING-DONG**

The house's doorbell rang and Shinobu's ears perked up. _Who could that be? We're not expecting anyone…_ Shinobu slowly crept out of her room and peered from the corning to the front door. Her eyes went wide and her heart raced. _Sempai?!_

Keitaro was standing outside the front door with Haruka standing slightly behind him. Both of them looked dead serious at her parents. "Hello Mr. Maehara… Mrs. Maehara. May I speak with the two of you?" Keitaro acted calm and spoke clearly and slowly. He could tell that these two were fighting from the angry looks they gave him.

"About what?" MR. Maehara strongly said in an attempt to keep his composer.

"Shinobu-chan, of course."

Shinobu's heart skipped a beat when he called out her name.

"Who are you and how do you know my daughter?!" Mrs. Maehara yelled out, obviously concerned and wondering if this was a suspicious guy.

"I'm Keitaro Urashima, owne of Hinata Sou."

"Hinata Sou?" Mr. and Mrs. Maehara questioned.

"The all girls' dormitory?" Mr. Maehara asked

"Yes, that is correct." Keitaro sighed. "You know I've spoken and listened to Shinobu-chan. She told me everything about what's going on here. I can't say that I'm not worried."

"Get to the point Keitaro-san." Mr. Maehara said harshly to act mean.

"I want Shinobu to come live at Hinata Sou, along with the other female tenants of course." They weren't responding to what he had just said. It was too much of a surprise and they needed to collect their thoughts. "She wouldn't have to worry about her rent, knowing her situation I can handle to pull some strings."

"But you're a man! A man running a girls' dorm! That can't possibly be good at all! You probably-!"

_Don't even go there!_ Haruka knew exactly what she was getting at. She was going to assume that Keitaro was doing things to the girls; she definitely looked like the type of person to jump to such conclusions. "Keitaro is NOT a pervert! He's not that kind of person and you will NOT say such things about him!" Haruka yelled and caused much silence.

"Look… you have to understand what's happening to Shinobu-chan. She's lived here all her life right?" He waited for her parents to nod their heads. "How do you think this effects Shinobu-chan? Having to move away from a place she had never left so suddenly, to go to a completely different place. Having to leave her old friends behind so suddenly. Leaving without even being able to say good-bye to anyone! To see her own parents fighting all the time!" Keitaro tightened his fist in anger. "How do you think this all effects her?!" Everyone was silent. The girls hiding far from behind Haruka and Keitaro all listened carefully. Shinobu herself looked like she was going to burst into tears. "…You're her parents… she's your daughter… you should notice these things. As her parents you must do the right things for her."

"…" They were speechless. So they only did one thing; they slowly closed the door right on Keitaro's face. Nothing else was said by them. Haruka placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Are you okay Keitaro?"

Keitaro let his grip go and closed his eyes tightly. "Yeah…" he turned around. "Let's go back." Keitaro hadn't even noticed that Su, Kitsune, Naru, and even Motoko had followed and heard everything. He didn't look like he would even care if he knew though. "I tried my best Shinobu-chan… I really did…"

"Don't sweat it Keitaro. " Haruka patted his shoulder. "I'm sure things will turn around for you." _Those girls! I thought I told them to stay back at Hinata Sou! You'd better run while you can!_ She looked right into the direction of where they were hiding. Motoko could see the deathly glare she was giving them. They immediately ran away.

"Yeah… I really hope so Haruka."

-/-/-/-/-/

The next morning Keitaro was up early at 7:00am to just do some early checking up on Hinata Sou. Before he could do this thought he went to the kitchen to get something to fully wake him up. He was still half asleep and coffee or tea would be the answer for that.

**RRING-RRING**

The phone rang before he could even get one step into the kitchen. _Ugh… who calls this early in the morning?_ Keitaro picked up the phone and held it to his ear, wiping his eyes. "Moshi moshi?"

"Onii-chan?"

_I know that voice anywhere._ "Ah, hello Kanako."

"Is it true? Are you the owner of Hinata Sou now?"

"Yeah…" _Unfortunately… I wonder how Kanako found out about this. Must've been told by Haruka._

"That's great oniichan! I didn't know Grandma Hina was so generous. I hope you're doing well with this oniichan!"

"Thanks Kanako… So when are you coming here anyway?" _I still remember you saying you'd come. I wish you'd hurry up… you being here would make things a whole lot easier for me._

"I don't know, maybe a week or two. I can't really say." Keitaro could hear a knock on the front door. But also Keitaro could hear Kanako give a little gasp, her mood completely changed and was somewhat robotic. "Anyway I have to go now oniichan. See you later." She hangs up quickly, not even giving him time to say his good-byes.

_Wonder what's up with her… Oh well, she seems excited about something. But who could that be at the door?_ Keitaro went straight for the door and opened it. He was surprised to see Mr. Maehara and Shinobu standing before him. "Mr. Maehara." Was all he could say for now.

"Please, Yashuhara will do… Keitaro-kun."

"Okay… Yashuhara-san. Please, come in." He led the two of them into the kitchen and seated them beside each other. Keitaro sat across from the two. "What brings you two here?"

It took Yashuhara a few seconds to speak. "I've talked to Shinobu-chan for quite sometime with her mother." He lightly touched Shinobu's hand. "Honestly Keitaro-kun what you've said is just about exactly what I was trying to tell her mother this while time. What you've said had really set her mind straight. I really have to thank you for this." Yashuhara his hands on the table. "After much talking with each other with Shinobu-chan. Since she has great expectations from this place and you, we've decided. It would be best for her I she lives here at Hinata Sou.

"Really?!" Keitaro exclaimed and stood up from excitement.

"Yes, of course. You understood Shinobu's feelings just as I do. I can't think of any better place for her. And I know you'll take care of my little angel.

"Father…"

"So Keitaro-kun… will you take in my daughter as one of your tenants?"

Keitaro smiled brightly. It was a while since he felt so happy. He held out his hand to Shinobu. "Welcome to Hinata Sou, Shinobu Maehara!"

"H-hai! Thank you sempai!" Shinobu accepted and shake his hand happily with that cute smile of hers. Her father was happy to see her smile as well.

_Thank you Keitaro-kun, you've done a great thing today. Shinobu's well being, her feelings, and her very heart will be safe in your care… I just know it._ "I'll send her things here right away. You can also contact me or her mother on these phone numbers in case of an emergency." He handed him a piece of lined paper with their numbers on it. "I'll be going now." He got to his feet and walked to the doorway.

"Father!"

"Hmm?" He turns around to see her daughter's smiling face.

"Thank you!"

"…No problem… angel."

**End Chapter 2**

_Zero Eiyuu: Well that's chapter 2, hope you liked it. I'm very sorry If you didn't like it due to the lack of the other girls. But thi chapter was all about Shinobu-chan and Keitaro-kun so I had to do things like this. oh well, next chapter things will he crazy, I'll tell you that! Haha!_

_As I was thinking I thought I'd give some info out for later chapters. Mutsumi, Sarah, Seta, Yukari, Kanako, Tama-chan, Nyamo, and just about every other support and minor character will make their appearances later on, and they will have huge impacts onto the story. So yeah._

_You know I've been thinking of some pairings but I haven't exactly come to an conclusion about it. I was thinking later I'll just branch off into 6 different endings in the end, but that would just take a little bit too long. Possible pairings are: Shinobu/Keitaro, Mutsumi/Keitaro, Kanako/Keitaro, Naru/Keitaro (highly unlikely though), Su/Keitaro, and Yukari/Keitaro._

_I'm still thinking though._

_Oh well, review if you wish, chapter 3 will be up in like, ugh_, _sorry guys but It seems I won't be on for quite a long time and will not prolly submit a new chapter until summer is over, I've got work and things to do and I won't have much time to do the things I want. So very sorry that I won't be able to continue this story for a while, but I will always be thinking of it and write down new ideas so don't worry. This just gives me a long time to think to make the story 10x better. Until we meet again._

_Sayonara._


	4. Chapter 3

_Zero Eiyuu: Oh my god sorry for the huge delay, I bet you thought I scrapped this story didn't ya? Haha, I'd never do that! NEVER you hear me? …Well actually I did before, but not this story! So enjoy! _

**Disclaimer: I do not own Love Hina, Love Hina Again, or anything created or written by the great Ken Akamatsu. **

Kanako walked along the sidewalks dressed fully in her black dress. She had a completely serious look on her face that scared anyone who would dare give her any weird looks. And that was many since it was morning and many people had to get to their work early. She didn't care about those people though, they meant nothing to her. The only person she truly and completely cared about was her brother.

"Wonder what oniichan's doing…" She let out with a sigh and decided to take a seat outside of a public park on a wooden bench. She pulled out her limited addition razer phone in the maroon colour. Cycling through her list of numbers she stopped right on Keitaro's cell phone number. She was about to dial it when a thought came to her head. _Oh wait, he left his phone with me… I can't even contact him if I wanted. What luck…_

**BZZZ! BZZZ! **

"Hmm?" She looked at the flashing number on her phone as it was vibrating lightly. _Grandma Hina?_ She answers it immediately. "Mooshi mooshi?"

"Kanako, you haven't left for Hinata Sou yet right?"

"Yeah… I still have many important things to do here."

"Ah… I see. Well thought, in any case, you should know something." She still sounded casual as ever.

"Is it important?"

"No not really." She paused for a second to let Kanako brace herself. "I just signed over the ownership oh Hinata Sou to Keitaro. That's all."

"Oh, is that all…?"

3… 2… 1… 0

"YOU WHAT?!" Kanako screamed loudly into her phone. Luckily Grandma Hina saw this coming and held her phone far away from her ears.

"Your oniichan is the new kanrinrin of Hinata Sou."

"That's crazy… and oniichan accepted this?"

"Well…" She let out a little giggle. "He kind of had no choice in the matter."

"I… see… wait, if oniichan's running Hinata Sou then where are you-" Kanako was suddenly cut off from her phone. All she could hear was static. Feeling unsatisfied with her response she dialled Grandma Hina's number.

"I'm sorry but the number you are trying to reach is unavailable." And electronic voice message said. Kanako closed her phone right away and gripped it tightly.

"That's strange." Kanako opened back her cell and tried again but only got the same electronic response. _Did she turn off her cell phone or something?_ A more important matter sparked in her mind, her brother. Luckily for her she had Hinata Sou's number in her list. It's still a little early but maybe oniichan will answer. She dialed and waited and waited. _Come on… pick up oniichan_.

"Mooshi mooshi?"

I know that voice anywhere. "Oniichan?"

"Ah, hello Kanako."

Kanako felt suddenly excited at the sound of his voice. It was like she was a little school girl. "Is it true?! Are you the owner of Hinata Sou?!"

"Yeah…"

_He doesn't seem all too excited_. "That's great oniichan! I didn't know Grandma Hina was so generous." She paused and waited for him to say something but he didn't seem like he was going to. "I hope you're doing well oniichan."

"That's Kanako… So when are you coming her anyway?"

_Oh that's right, I DID say I would go with him later on_. "I don't know, maybe a week or two. I can't tell right now." Kanako looked straight ahead of her. Her eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped. "Anyway… I have to go… now… oniichan. See you… later." Before Keitaro would respond, she hangs up and turns off her phone_. I'm not seeing things am I?_ Kanako got to her feet and glared straight ahead_. I'm sure that I'm not…_ She took a couple of steps forward.

"I've found you… Yukari."

**Love Hina: The Path of Love **

**Chapter 3: The Will to Move On **

Keitaro walked down the halls of Hinata Sou, carrying a plastic bag and a rather large and heavy looking box. Fragile was written on it in big red kanji characters. He stopped in front of a room numbered 201, there was still no name plate for it though. He put down the box carefully and couldn't keep his eye off the empty slot.

"Oh yeah." Keitaro reached into the plastic bag and pulled out a metal plate with 'Shinobu Maehara' engraved on it really neatly in katakana. Reaching up he slowly set it in place. _Perfect. Took me a while to make that too. _

The door slid open in front of him. Shinobu stood there looking at Keitaro. "What are you doing?" Keitaro backed off and let her come out to see what he'd done. "Thank you sempai, it looks great."

_Ugh… calling me just 'sempai' now, I don't deserve to be called that_. "No problem Shinobu-chan." Keitaro lifted up the box and went into her room with her. "Where do you want this?"

"Oh, right over there would be good." Shinobu points next to her desk that's against her east wall. Keitaro went and set it down slowly, making sure to be as delicate as he could. "Thank you so much for helping me sempai. It all looks so perfect."

"It's okay, I couldn't let you do this all by yourself." Keitaro reassured her_. Besides there were so many boxes and as I am I couldn't allow her to do this on her own. _

"Yes but…" She looked around her really organized and clean room that looked much like her old room back at her home. "You brought all these here… by yourself. You must be tired."

"Yeah, a little bit. But I'm okay."

"…"

"W-well I should really introduce you to everyone. They should be waking up soon." Keitaro walked out of Shinobu's room with her.

"Are they friendly?" Shinobu asked, obviously nervous on meeting her fellow tenants.

Keitaro thought he should tell her what he REALLY thought, but he didn't want to scare her. "To me… no…" He said it so bluntly but changed it to a happy expressions and padded her shoulder, making her blush. "But you, they'll just love you."

"R-really?"

"Of course Shinobu-chan." Keitaro sighed inside and they walked downstairs together. _After all… you ARE a girl… you'll be treated with respect. _

Together… side by side… they walked together into the kitchen, Shinobu took a seat at the end of the table with Keitaro seated adjacent to her.

"Are you hungry Shinobu-chan?"

"H-hai, just a bit though."

"Hmm…" He went over to the stove and got a pot of water to boil. "I'll make you a little snack before everyone wakes up. Is miso soup okay with you?" She shyly nodded to saw yes. Keitaro went to the fridge and took out a bag of Japanese noodles and various amounts of herbs, spices, and vegetables. He set them all aside then pulled out a sharp knife and a wooded cutting board. He then started to dice up a bunch of vegetables at the same time at an extreme speed. _It's been a while since I cooked… hope Shinobu-chan will like this. Careful now Keitaro, you don't want to cut a finger off… _

_He's going awfully fast with the knife… I hope he doesn't- _

"GAH! THAT'S SMARTS!" Keitaro put his left index finger and thumb into his mouth. Shinobu got right up and went to his side.

"Sempai!"

"Don't worry!" He blushed when she grabbed his hand to examine his wound.

_That's a deep cut The cut must've went 1/5 through his fingers_. She let go of his hand and blushed too. "S-sorry."

"N-no I'm sorry. I'll make your food right after I get this cleaned up. I should have some bandages in my room so don't worry." He wrapped his hand in his shirt to absorb the blood and stop the bleeding. "Be right back." He left her alone.

"Sempai… you're really something else…" Shinobu went over to the cutting board and was shocked to see the blood covered board and vegetables. _Auu…_

-/-/-/-/-/

In his room Keitaro was searching all throughout his backpack. "Damn, I'm sure I packed some in here! Come on!" Since he couldn't find his bandages he angrily threw his bag across his room and applied more pressure on his wound. "I need SOMETHING at least to stop the bleeding. Damn… my shirt's all bloody." Just how can a cut like this get the best of me? What kind of immortal am I? Keitaro started to reminisce about the times he spent with Yukari. He thought about the most dangerous of times with her where he could get fatally injured in many ways. But he always pulled through quickly somehow and Yukari was happy that Keitaro was always with her, she often called him her immortal. "Yu…chan…"

"Hey, why are you making so much noise for?"

"Huh?" Keitaro looked around to see where the voice was coming from. "Who said that?" He couldn't see anyone at all. _Am I going crazy?_

"Up here dummy." He looked up along the ceiling and saw Naru's head pop out upside down from the hole he saw last time. Her mouth fell open at the site of his bloody self. "Whoa! Are you okay?!"

Keitaro didn't look at her, he looked to the side with a cold look. "I'll live… no need to worry Narusegawa, it's just a cut…"

"…" _Geez, what's his problem?_ She brought her head back through the whole.

"Years huh, Grandma Hina? I seriously don't know If I can do this." He groaned lightly to himself, tightening his grip.

"Here." Keitaro looked up and saw Naru again, she threw him a big white roll of bandages. He caught it and looked dizzily at her with a kind of 'what the hell is she doing?" look.

"Thanks…"

"No problem…" she fixed her glasses and gave a small smile to him, but it just looked like a frown to Keitaro. "You know if you want some help you should just ask." Naru waited for Keitaro to say something to her, but he was too busy wrapping his fingers. "After all we can't let our kanrinrin die."

"…" Keitaro kept an eye on his wound, wrapping it over and over until the blood barely seeped through. "There…" Keitaro walked to Naru and held out the bandages to her.

"Nah, you can keep it." Naru titlted her head slightly. "Mind if I come in?"

"If you want…" Keitaro set aside the bandages and stood up, watching Naru in the corner of his eye. She dropped down from the hole and landed on her feet. She was dressed in a yellow sweater and a red shirt. _…WHY is she even talking to me? I'm pretty sure she hates me a lot… so why?_

"Can I ask you something?"

"If you must, go ahead." I don't know if I'll answer you though.

_I guess he must not like us still… I can't blame him though_. "How did you cut yourself?"

"I was chopping vegetables a little too fast."

"Oh… I see…" _Was he trying to make us breakfast?_

"Thanks again for the bandages." Keitaro left his room without looking at Naru. She didn't even get to reply to him, Keitaro was acting very cold to Naru. Keitaro didn't know just how much this was actually hurting Naru… but he didn't care that much for someone who came to such sudden conclusions about him.

-/-/-/-/-/

"Huh? Shinobu-chan? What are you doing?" Keitaro asked when he walked into the kitchen and saw her placing 2 plates beside each other. They were both full of very delicious looking and smelling food. It definitely wasn't miso soup, it was more of a fried rice with cooked shrimp, eggs, and cut up pork. _Where… did she got those ingredients? Okay, I think it's better off not asking._

"Oh! Sempai, sorry but I umm… I wanted to cook for you." She covered her face and pretended to scratch her nose to cover her blushing face_. Auu, this is more embarrassing that I thought. _

"Wow…" Keitaro said in awe and sat down beside the standing Shinobu. Wow was right, it looked amazing and Keitaro was actually drooling from the smell. "It looks so good…"_ Sure does look better than the mess I would've made… my pride as a cook has been shot down_. Shinobu sat down beside him and watched as he took a big bite. His eyes instantly turned glazed with joy and happiness. I think I'm in Heaven!!!

"H-how is it?"

"Shinobu-chan…" Keitaro said seriously In combination with the most serious look Keitaro had ever given. Shinobu looked worried and scared from his stare. "This is… THE BEST THING I'VE EVER EATEN BEFORE! IT'S AMAZING! IT'S INCREDIBLE! YOU MUST BE THE WORLD'S GREATEST COOK!"

"Sempai, you're making me blush!" That's a good excuse for now. But being praised by him in such a way… I'm so happy.

"But it's true! This is truly out of this world. "You have to teach me how to cook like you someday."

"O-okay… you can count on me."

**KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK **

Keitaro and Shinobu cold here the door knocking "Be right back Shinobu-chan." He got up and walked out to the front door. He could hear 2 people talking loudly outside, he recognized those voices and opened the door to meet with his two friends; Shirai and Haitani.

"Shirai… Haitani. What are you two doing here."

"What kind of welcome is that Keitaro-kun?" Haitani laughed.

"You gonna invite us in or what?" Shirai padded Keitaro's shoulder.

"Huh? Of course. Please come in-" Wait a minute, if the girls see these guys they'll kill them. Keitaro paused and held his hands out to stop them from walking in. "Actually that's a bad idea. And When I mean 'bad' I mean 'bad' as in you're gonna die."

"Huh? Why?"

"I'm afraid for you two."

"What's the matter? There a monster in there or something?" Haitani joked.

"Worse…" Keitaro rested his shoulder on the doorway. "Tsuruko's younger sister, Motoko." The second they heard that name they froze up as if they saw a ghost.

"**_THE_** Motoko Aoyama?!"

"Yeah…"

"The feared swordsman of the shinmeiryuu?!

"Yup."

"Keitaro-kun, what happened here?!"

"It's a long story, so lets go out and talk somewhere else more pleasant. Just give me a sec okay?"

"Take your time, we're wait right here."

Keitaro walked back into the kitchen and saw Shinobu ¼ done her food. "Sorry Shinobu-chan but I've gatta go out for a while with some friends of mine. You can come if you'd like, I'm sure they wouldn't mind."

"No, no, it's okay. You should just catch up with your friends, I wouldn't want to bother you." She smiled at Keitaro to reassure him that it was okay. "Have fun okay?"

"Okay Shinobu-chan. I'll be back soon. In the meantime, I'm sure you'll meet up with the rest of the tenants. Hope you get along with them."

And before she knew it Keitaro had left without saying another word. She could only sigh with boredom and place her utensils down beside her plate. Looking straight ahead at Keitaro's plate, she noticed something odd; it was spotless, as if it were licked clean. The food was all gone and all that was left was a wobbling plate.

"Auu... that's odd..." Suddenly she felt a small gust of wind run right past her, like someone was running really fast. With her hair slightly blown by this mysterious wind she looks down and is shocked to find that her plate was in the same state as Keitaro's. She was starting to get scared down. _…Okay Shinobu... don't panic... there has to be an explanation for all of this_. Her eyes widened with fear, she quickly and nervously shuffled back until she hit the wall and pressed her back against it. _W-WHAT?!_ Shinobu was looking right at the upside down face of Su.

"You're a great cook! You must be an Iron Chef or something!" Su says with a smile. Shinobu was too shocked to reply to her praise since Su was hanging upside down from the ceiling on what looked like a fibre optics wire.

"Uhh... uhh..."

"Oh wait..." Su tilts her head. "Who are you?"

-/-/-/-/-/

"Sorry to keep you guys waitting and all. Let's go." Keitaro said right after he swallowed the food he had quickly snuck in his mouth before he left. "I'll explain it all at Haruka's place." They walked together towards Haruka's teashop side by side, with Keitaro in the middle.

"Oh yeah, now that you mention it, some girl was waiting outside Haruka's place." Haitani informed. "She was kind of staring inside of her shop for a while."

"And how is that important?" Keitaro questioned.

"I-I don't know. I just thought it was kind of suspicious and all." Haitani tried to back up but only earned a sigh from both Keitaro and Shirai.

"Oh well, let's just hurry up." Shirai suggested. -Actually I saw that girl too, I thought she looked really familiar... like I've seen her on my trip...-

Together they moved on to Haruka's shop. The 3 of them noticed the girl Haitani was talking about, she was still standing outside her shop just staring inside. Once the 3 of them got close enough she finally noticed the 3 of them and faced the gang. She looked right at them with her dark brown sleepy looking eyes and charming smile. Keitaro was surprised at her, something in his memory kicked in the second he laid his eyes on her.

"Kei-kun?" She asked. Haitani and Shirai looked at Keitaro. Keitaro was looking at the girl with a sort of daze.

"Mutsumi-san...?" Keitaro asked as well. The two just looked so stunned. The woman drew herself closer to Keitaro with a gentle smile and slowly got closer to wrap her arms around him into a embrace, resting her chin on his shoulder.

"Kei-kun… It's been so long." She said. It was hard for her to say this, all the meanwhile when he had arrived, she just felt like crying. "I'm so sorry for what happened between you and _her_." Keitaro relaxed himself and embraced her back, lightly crying from the happiness of seeing her again.

"Thank you." Keitaro whispered. _Mutsumi Otohime... Someone who I have a special bond with I often wondered how she was doing since we last met, but it doesn't matter I guess. It's just great to see and hold her again._ He lightly tightened his embrace on her with a single tear now rolling down his face. _I find it so strange… but I feel completely at ease… so safe. I have so many problems in my life, Yu-chan, Hinata Sou, but this friend of mine… with this one simple embrace from her all my troubles seem to vanish. She always had that effect on people, she was special. Was this all I really needed though? A embrace? _"Thank you for this. It's good to see you too Mutsumi-san."

"Ara ara, likewise." Mutsumi happily whispered into his ear. And without really thinking, she slightly pulled away and looked at Keitaro, still holding onto him. Slowly she drew her face closer to his and gently kissed his lips right then and there. Both Haitani and Shirai's eyes popped out of their sockets and their jaws dropped to the ground.

"Hey Shirai… what's going on here…?" Haitani whispered.

"… I have no idea…"

"Ara ara." Mutsumi broke their kiss and blushed slightly, still holding onto Keitaro. "Oops, sorry about that."

"It's okay, you were always like that back then. I understand." Keitaro blushed as well but only slightly like he was used to it. Shirai and Haitani got Keitaro's attention though with some pretty clueless stares. "Umm… you guys okay?"

"What was that about Keitaro?!" Shirai yelled angrily. Truth be told Mutsumi was actually the girl he met at Okinawa and personally had a thing for her.

"Oh, you mean that kiss?" Keitaro laughed.

"YES!!!"

"Oh, well you see she always does that to people she likes. It's perfectly normal in her case." Keitaro stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What?! Really?!"

"Uhh… yeah?"

_Dammit! Why didn't she kiss me back in Okinawa then?! Damn you lucky bastard Keitaro! Hey hey… calm down now Shirai, let Kei-kun be, he's been through too much already, just let him be. His happiness is more important right now. But still… oh Mutsumi…_ "Okay okay, I get it. But… could you guys do me a small favour?"

"What is it?"

"Could you two stop hugging!!!"

"Huh?" It took a while for Mutsumi and Keitaro to realise they still held eachother in a pretty intimate way right in front of the two. They separated right away with their faces beat red.

"Ara, gomen…" Mutsumi shyly apologized.

"I-it's okay." Nervously stammered. To the group's surprise the entire time Haruka was standing by the entrance watching and listening on their whole conversation. She looked quite annoyed actually.

_Well that was interesting. I've seen Mutsumi kiss Keitaro several times before but that time… I can't put my finger on it but it was different… must be my imagination._ "Hey, you guys coming in or what? No loitering outside my shop." _You guys had better got money on you too. _

-/-/-/-/-/

Back at Hinata Sou after Su had eaten all of Shinobu's food, Su forcefully brought Shinobu over to her room. However Shinobu didn't know this at the time nor did she even have a choice. All she knew was that this girl was nuts, completely bonkers, and a human food disposal.

"We're gonna have so much fun you and me, yup" Su said happily, grasping onto Shinobu's hand and dragging her through the forest otherwise known as Su's room. This being Shinobu's first time in Su's room of course she was scared.

_Get a hold of yourself Shinobu, you can't let this weirdo hurt you or anything. You must make a break for it and escape! Quickly now! Knock her out or something! _"Umm… Who are you?" Shinobu asked in crippling fear._ Auu… why did I ask her name?_

"I'm Su, Kaolla Su! Nice to meetcha oh great and powerful master chef!"

_Master Chef? _"My name isn't Master Chef… I-It's Shinobu Maehara…"

"Ah! Nice to meetcha Master Chef Shinobu!" Su kept on tugging onto Shinobu and showing no signs of letting go any time soon.

_What's with this girl? This is getting creepy now._ "W-what is this place anyway? It's a jungle in here, I didn't know Hinata Sou had such a place."

"Thanks, my room really IS like a jungle… huh, never noticed. Cool!"

_Did she just say her… room?!_ Su pulled Shinobu harder and they picked up some speed, just running through all of the plants. "S-Su, what are you doing?!"

"I want to show you something! We're almost there!" With one leap the two of them hand in hand jumped through several branches and landed right in front of what seemed to be Su's bed._ Now where did I put that 'thing'? _"Shinobu, I'll be right back. I just know I left it here somewhere." And with that Su zoomed away through the sea of green and out of sight from Shinobu like a rocket.

"Auu… where are you sempai?" Shinobu looked around for anything that would help her with her next encounter with Su. Maybe a weapon to fend her off with. But the only thing that was around was a box labelled 'Hinarei' on it next to Su's bed. "What's this?" _Maybe there's something in here that'll help me._ So out of curiosity and desperation she opened up the box.

"Banzai! I've got you now Su! You're all mine to play with muahahha!"

"KYAHHH!" Shinobu screamed out when a strange strong looking man jumped right out of the box and grasped her shoulders violently. "Please don't hurt me!"

"Muahahah!" The man laughed maniacally with the most EVIL voice of all. But he got a good look at Shinobu with his blue eyes and slowly let go with shock. "H-hey! You're not Su!" He looked angry now. "Tell me where she is or else you'll have to do!" _And I've got many dirty games for us to play, heh heh heh… _

"S-she's!" She couldn't get her words together, she was just too scared. But she gathered in all of her strength and yelled out… "She's right behind you!"

"Huh?"

**WHACK!!!! **

In one big swift motion, Su ran up from behind the man, jumped, and fiercely roundhouse kicked the side of his face. That one attack sent the mystery man right into a tree nearby. Shinobu could only stare blankly at the power that Su possessed.

"Back for more have ya Hinarei ya pervert?!" Su triumphantly said and slowly crept towards the man in a striking pose.

"Su… you'll pay for that!" Hinarei yelled out and got to his feet, ready to strike at Su.

" Neva!!! I have nothing for yous!" Su took one leap towards Hinarei, her foot ready to land another attack.

"Eat this!" In a sweeping motion Hinarei put all of his strength into one kick towards the airborne Su. _There's no way I'm gonna miss this!_

"(Chomp)" Hinarei did not expect that Su would just simply take a huge bite of his leg in midair. _As you wish Hinarei! _

"Wuahhhh! What the heck!" Hinarei spin around and tried to shake off Su, but her grip was just too strong. Her teeth REALLY sunk into his leg. "Wahh! Get it off! Get it off!"

"Weehee, this is so fun!" Su was able to say even though with a mouth full of Hinarei's leg. Needless to say… Hinarei was quite surprised and scared once Su started spinning around, flinging him around in a circle. "Wee" _But now is not the time to play with Hinarei, I play with Shinobu now! Time for Hinarei to go bye-bye!_ "Have a safe trip Hinarei!"

"EH?!" Before he could react Hinarei was flung into the air when Su let her grip go. But what really looked like it hurt was that Su made a giant leap up into the air and kicked Hinarei so hard he went through the ceiling and far away from Hinata Sou. "Gameover!"

"Su what was that about?!" Shinobu screamed in fear and anger.

"Oh, don't worry about Hinarei. He isn't a major character in this story."

"Story? What are you talking about?"

"Hey look! I found it!" Su pulled out a large smooth metal box like item with straps like a backpack on it. She handed it right to Shinobu. "Here put it on please! I wanna see if it works!"

"Ano… okay… but what is this?" Shinobu slipped on the item onto her back just like a backpack. _It's kind of light. _

"You'll see." Shinobu looked on curiously as Su pulled out a complicated looking joystick with many different coloured buttons on it. She just smiled at Shinobu.

_Auu… what have I gotten myself into? Sempai… save me… _

"Ignition!" Su pressed the big red button on top of the joystick itself. The metal box suddenly spread out two giant 3 meter long metallic wings and the box itself transformed into a giant muffler that looked like a huge cannon.

"Huh?" Shinobu was so clueless as to what was going to happen to her.

"Launch!" Su hit another button on the joystick and the cannon let out a fiery blast that sent Shinobu high into the air like a rocket.

"KYAHHH!" In an instant, Shinobu was sent right through the hole that Hinarei made. For a while she was flying around uncontrollably… Su was controlling Shinobu with that joystick of hers anyway.

-/-/-/-/-/

Back with Keitaro, Mutsumi, Haitani, and Shirai though the four of them shared a table together located near the corner. Haruka had to put them somewhere out of the way as they caught up while she took care of her other customers.

"Ara, I didn't know Shira-san knew Kei-kun. How surprising." Mutsumi murmured.

_Ugh… I should be saying the same thing._ "Well you could say that the three of us are best friends." Shirai said and looked at Keitaro. "Isn't that right, Keitaro?"

"Huh?" Keitaro was a bit spaced out from looking at Mutsumi the whole time. "Oh… yeah. We're pretty close." Keitaro looked over to Haitani who was glaring at him. "Oh… uhh, this is Haitani. My other best friend. He's actually closer to Shirai but we hang out together a lot."

"Nice to meet you Haitani-san."

"So Mutsumi-san, what brings you here in Hinata City anyway? Okinawa is quite a ways away." Shirai asks.

"Ara, ara. I wanted to come and see Keitaro after Grandma Hina told me of what happened. I was so concerned."

_Grandma Hina? She sure spreads the word quickly. Just what is she up to? I feel like I am in some kind of master scheme of hers. Meh, I cant be so paranoid, this is just a coincidence. _

"But I see from looking at you right now that you're doing just okay." _Mutsumi clasped her hands together happily. _"I also came back because I wanted to try to get into Todai again. Third year's a charm right?"

"Todai…?" _That's right, that's what I wanted to do as well. That'll keep my mind occupied for sure._ "What a coincidence, so am I. Maybe we could study together for the upcoming exams?"_ That reminds me, I still need to apply._

"Ara, that's a great idea. Haitani? Shirai? Are you both also aiming for Todai?"

"Who? Us?" Shirai looked over to Haitani and the two of them just shrugged. "I guess so; we can't just let Keitaro do this alone."

"Yeah, you can count on us Keitaro."

"For some reason I feel uneasy…" Keitaro joked and laughed by himself. Shirai looked at his watch and tapped on it to catch Haitani's attention.

"We gatta go Haitani."

"Oh that's right, we have to go get to our jobs Keitaro." Haitani said as him and Shirai got up. "Talk to you later okay?"

"Right, see you guys later."

"Bye Mutsumi, Keitaro." Shirai waved as the two of them exited together.

"Well then I suppose I should get back to Hinata Sou then."

"Ara, Hinata Sou?" Mutsumi sounded very intrigued. "Can I come with you? It's been so long since I've been there."

"Of course, I don't see why not." Suddenly though in the sky above Hinata Sou, there was a small explosion visible. "…What the heck was that?"

However though that explosion was actually Shinobu as her jetpack looking item overheated and exploded on her back. She was plummeting back to Hinata Sou at an extreme speed towards the roof area where Motoko would usually turn up.

"KYAHHH!!!" Shinobu screamed.

"Huh?" Motoko stopped her daily training and held her bokken to her side, looking up at the screams of Shinobu. "What is that?!" _It kind of looks like that girl Urashima was talking to yesterday._ She readied her sword as Shinobu got closer and closer._ I'm going to need to slow her down. This shouldn't harm her… _

**WHOOSH! **

With a mighty swing Motoko sent a giant gust of wind at Shinobu and slowed her down just a bit. That gave Motoko enough time to jump up and grab Shinobu while removing the jetpack from her. Motoko landed safely with Shinobu in her hands Just in time too as the jetpack went straight through the roof, leaving a big gapping hole.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?" Motoko demanded of her.

"Y-yes, thank you…" Shinobu shyly said when she was gently put back on her feet by Motoko.

"…" _There's no doubt about it, this IS that girl. But why is she here? I'm sure her parents deeply disagreed with Urashima before. _

"Oh! How rude of me. I'm Shinobu Maehara, I'll be living here from now on."

"Here?" _Guess Urashima was more persuasive than I thought. Can't say I'm not happy… goodjob Urashima. _"Nice to meet you Shinobu-chan, I'm Motoko Aoyama."

"Nice to meet you."

"May I ask how this happened? And please tell me that it wasn't Su…"

"Well… that would be a lie then…"

"Su"

"Someone call my name?!" In the sky Su was flying in the sky in the same thing she gave Shinobu, but it was a different model from before that didn't overheat or explode easily. She slowly came to a landing in front of Shinobu and removed her jetpack. "I'm so sowie Shinobu…" Su cried out tears and embraced Shinobu warmly. "I hope we can still be friends…"

"Of course we can Su…" Shinobu quietly said to her and embraced her back._ Auu… she's so cute, how can I be mad at her?_

"Hmm? Urashima was gone?" Motoko said from near the edge of the roof. She was looking down towards the stairs.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"He's walking up the stairs, and he's not alone."

"Oh! That! Sempai left with his friends a while ago. I guess he's done." Shinobu was able to unlatch herself from Su's mighty grip and stand beside her. "Is he bringing them over?"

"Them? He's only got a woman with him." Motoko pointed down at the happy looking couple talking with each other. Mutsumi and Keitaro didn't really take notice to the ones observing them. They just walked and talked happily.

"Hurry hurry! Let's go down and greet them!" Su grabbed both Motoko and Shinobu with her mighty exaggerated strength and ran for the front door. Her speed was… almost light speed. Now, back to Mutsumi and Keitaro.

"Ara ara, Hinata Sou is still so big."

"Yeah… I know. Not THAT much has changed…"

"Is Grandma Hina still in charge?"

"No, she… well mysteriously vanished. I'm in charge now."

"Ara ara, no way. You're the kanrinrin?"

"Yup. For now at least."

"What do you mean?"

"Honestly I don't know. I really don't want to run this place… but I can't just leave some of the residents. I feel like I shouldn't really be here. You know what I mean?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about Kei-kun." Mutsumi said tilting her head slightly to the side as they arrived at the front doors of Hinata Sou.

"Heh, it's okay Mutsumi." _Honestly telling someone this has really helped me today._ "Well then, let's go in." Keitaro opened the door and was surprised to see Naru and Kitsune right in front of him, they were dressed to go out. "Huh? What are you-?"

"Oh, Naru was just gonna go out and look for ya." Kitsune blurted out and got elbowed in the ribs by Naru herself. _Sorry Naru, couldn't help myself._ "She's been worried about you the whole time and wondered where you were."

"Really? That's nice of you, but you don't have to worry about me."

"Idiot! I know that okay?! I was just wondering where you were, that's all." Naru yelled at him. Kitsune and Mutsumi were shocked but that didn't phase Keitaro one bit, seemed he didn't care much.

"That's strange, I thought Shinobu-chan would've told you where I went."

"Shinobu-chan…? Who's that?" _Is he talking about that girl from yesterday? _

"By the way Keitaro, who's the girl?" Kitsune pointed at Mutsumi.

"Ara, nice to meet you, my name is Mutsumi Otohime."

"Huh? What the heck is that?!" Keitaro pointed behind Naru and Kitsune at something going extremely past that left a trail of dust in it's path.

"Welcome home Keitawo!" Su yells at the top of her lungs, still holding onto Shinobu and Motoko. Su couldn't stop herself in time and bashed right into Kitsune, Naru, and Keitaro. All of them went tumbling onto the ground in front of Mutsumi.

"Ara ara, Hinata Sou is so lively."

As all of these events were occurring though, Kanako had her hands full with something else. Something much more important especially to herself. She had been following Yukari this whole time.

_What the heck is she up to? I've been following her for hours now. _Kanako kept herself well hidden from Yukari in the crowded areas where she went, never to be seen or heard by her. _Let's see…she went around from store to store buying some regular things, but the oddest one of them all was that set of men's clothes. Just what is going on with you? If you're a cross-dresser then you've lost my respect._ Kanako followed Yukari as she walked across an intersection

"There you are Yukari."

_What?! Who's that?! _ As soon as Yukari had crossed she was greeted by a man no older than Keitaro. He was well dressed in his business suit and gave a smile to Yukari. _Who is this man?!_ Before she knew it the two of them hugged.

"Good to see you too." Yukari responded.

"Are you ready then?" The man asks.

"Yes… let's go." And they walked away together side by side. Kanako didn't follow them though, she was too angry on what had just happened.

"Yu…kari… you… you…" Kanako tightened her fist, digging her nails into her own palm so tightly that blood slowly seeped out. _This is your reason?! This is why you caused my oniichan such pain?! You…_ "You'll pay for this!"

**End Chapter **

_Zero Eiyuu: So I hope you enjoyed reading that, sorry it took me so long and sorry the story went on so slowly, but now that this was all out of the way I can get to much more interesting parts of the story. So prepare yourself for some suspense and drama! Hahaha! But Honestly I hope you really did like this and you can be sure that I'll update a lot more often, I've got a lot of free time so bleh… _

_Oh yeah, just a little heads up for the future, if you're a real big fan of Shinobu X Keitaro stories then you're in for a treat, I'm currently working on a really really well structured fanfic that will be just as good as it is long. It's like a movie and therefore I've actually draw pictures and such and am in the process of making a little opening movie for the story with my own pictures, it'll be kind of a Canvas 2 knock off with Love Hina. But it'll be cool. It'll be a story of heartbreak, love, mystery, betrayal, and triumph. I may not complete that for a while though, heh. Just thought I should say. But yeah… _

_As the story is progressing my ideas are still coming out, I've got some great ideas for later chapters but I'm most concerned about how I should end things. And that is still a mystery to me. But that won't be for a long time. _

_Another things was that I was thinking wither I should make my chapters this or just as long again or shorten it to maybe 2000-3000 words per chapter to increase how frequently I update. But that's kind of boring to me, but I just feel bad for leaving you readers out with my long long periods of not updating. _

_ Oh well. Also I remember reading in one of the reviews that someone didn't really like the idea of the Yukari X Keitaro pairing in this story, well trust me you'll view of her shall change in the next 2 chapters. Don't give up on her now, it's still just too early. _

_ That's all for now, hope to see you again in chapter 4: The Reason to go on! _

_ Oh and before I post Chapter 4 I've got a funny little intermission for you guys to read. It's just a little thing I wrote to cure my boredom and it has to do with me, Hinarei from AnimeB, BobCat from AnimeB, and the cast of Love Hina, just talking about the story. I'm sure that will generate a few laughs as well as some answers to questions you may or may not have. Until then though. Sayonara!_


	5. Chapter 4

_Zero Eiyuu: Sorry, I'll just skip the intermission…_

_Umm, wow, that sure took me a while. So sorry for taking so long and I have to be honest with all you readers. I actually completed this chapter on paper about two weeks ago and it just took forever for me to type it up, I mean they're so many distractions on the computer, haha!_

_Well anyway I see that this is quite a popular fanfic I've written, you don't know how happy I am to have so many readers of this story. It really warms my heart! Thank you all!_

_So, yeah, all you readers should know one little thing, I've come up with three different endings I want to come up with and when it comes to that time when I must post the last chapter, I will post all three at the same time so it'll take me a long time for the last chapter. But that won't be for a long time… yeah._

_Well anyway though enjoy this chapter, I've gone in a slightly different direction with this. And, and it seems that a lot of people like this version of Keitaro I've written about, cool! Enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Love Hina, I can't stress that enough._

_**Chapter 4: The Reason to go on**_

Four days have past since Mutsumi had paid her visit to Hinata Sou. She didn't stay for long but she was able to meet and greet with all of the residents very happily. She was welcomed as if she lived there herself. At that time as well, Shinobu was introduced to everyone by Keitaro who explained her situation and what had happened. She was quickly accepted into the group of girls. Yes… everything sure was going well, Keitaro was even able to get to know the girls a little bit too. Keitaro and Kitsune got to know each other a little bit as they both got stinking drunk one day and Kitsune got Keitaro in trouble by making it seem like he was feeling her up. Keitaro would never fall for that mistake again he thought. Shinobu herself suggested to Keitaro that, since everyone wasn't too great in cooking, she'd from now on cook everyone's meals throughout the days. Keitaro really didn't want her to work so hard like that but once everyone had a taste of her cooking… they all grudgingly accepted her proposal. Keitaro and Su… they'd been playing many of her dangerous games that always resulted in either part of Hinata Sou being destroyed, or Keitaro getting hurt. It was fun for Su, sadly it wasn't for Keitaro. On the day that Keitaro had arrived to Hinata Sou, Motoko was always interested in the defensive moves Keitaro displayed and had asked him of how he learned such moves. Keitaro explained to her that he had gone through training before much like her own, she had a little respect for him. But in the case of Keitaro and Naru… they really haven't bonded much, those two kept away from each other as much as possible.

-/-/-/-/-/

Keitaro walked across the streets through a crowd of young students who crowded most of the area. He was able to make his way through all of them and got to the reason why there were so many students, it was the exam applications. He had hung out with Shirai, Haitani, and Mutsumi before he had come get his application, seems they already have done it and had to get going to their jobs. Mutsumi had gotten a job as a waitress at a restaurant. Shirai and Haitani never said where they worked and wanted to keep it that way.

"I really have to hurry and find one for myself…" Keitaro sighed and wanted to hurry up and submit his application and head back to Hinata Sou. Once he was over and done with he turned and headed for Hinata Sou. But in his haste he accidentally bumped into a girl who was grabbing herself an application and caught her arms before she fell back. Keitaro helped her back to her feet. "I'm sorry, it's my entire fault." He slowly let go of her hands with that apology.

"No no, it was all mine, sorry." The girl fixed her big round glasses and blushed. She had her long auburn hair tied in two ponytails. He handed her the application she wanted.

"Excuse me but…" Keitaro got a good look at the girl's face. "Do I know you?" Keitaro rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sorry if I'm being creepy, but you look really familiar."

"Umm, I don't think so. I'm never met you before…"

"Oh, sorry. My mistake." Keitaro was embarrassed and blushed a little. _Hmm, I should get back to Hinata Sou and clean up before I go job hunting. Kitsune and Naru aren't home, so that just leaves Motoko to warn…_ "Well I gatta go, good luck on the entrance exams."

"Y-yeah… bye…" Keitaro left in a hurry, squeezing through everyone and out of this girl's sight. _…He's a lot nicer than I though._ The girl blushed slightly at the thought of Keitaro.

"Hey, Naru! You done yet!?" Kitsune came running through the crowds in the opposite direction where Keitaro left. She came right up to the girl. "Geez, I finally recognize you. Hurry up girl, the store'll close soon!"

"Yeah yeah, just give me a minute Kitsune." The girl took off her glasses and revealed herself to be Naru. "Really now, this isn't even much of a disguise."

"Girl, whatever you say. Just hurry up will ya?"

"I told you to wait a minute, geez. Can't a girl take her time?

"Okay okay, take it easy…" Kitsune waited patiently for Naru to finish applying. "There, you're done right?"

"Yuuup. Let's head out. And please take it easy on me, I'm not loaded or anything."

"Don't worry, that's a promise!" Kitsune said it a most serious tone.

"That doesn't help me…" Of course Naru didn't buy any of that.

"Heh."

-/-/-/-/-/

"Welcome home Sempai." Shinobu greeted to Keitaro when he entered and removed his shoes.

"Thanks Shinobu-chan." From behind though, Su came right up to Keitaro and latched herself right onto him like he was going to give her a piggyback ride. Keitaro had this happen so many times that it didn't bother him much, but it DID startle him. "W-what is it Su-chan?"

"I'm booooored Keitawooooo! Let's play."

"Su, please get off Sempai, I'll play with you okay?"_Oh god, what am I getting myself into? I shouldn't have said that!_

"Noooooooo!" Su moaned and squeezed Keitaro's neck very tightly in disapproval. Keitaro stumbled back and tried to release himself from her grip, it was useless though.

"S-Su!!!" Keitaro gasped.

"My game is too dangerous for you Shinomu-chan. I wanted to play my brand new game with Keitawo!!!" Su calmed down a little and rubbed her faces against Keitaro's playfully, making him blush embarrassingly right in front of Shinobu. "Oh Keitawo, my new game is sooooo fun. Nuclear powered photon laser tag with Anti-gravity boots sounds like so much fun!"

"…Did I just hear that right?"

"Auu… photon lasers?" _How does she get the equipment for these things?!_

"Yeahhh! Now let's play!"

"Su, I got a better idea." Keitaro gave her a grin and looked around. _I know I keep an extra one around here somewhere. Ah! I remember now!_

"What Keitawo?" Su squeezed harder around his neck but he resisted and slowly made his way past Shinobu and reached behind one of the plants, pulling out a large fresh banana. "'Nana!"

"That's right Su! Now go fetch!!!" Keitaro threw the banana far away into the cherry blossom trees. Su instantly jumped off of him and ran for the banana. Once Su got a hold and snaffled up her banana she realised that Keitaro had left a large trail of bananas leading her all around Hinata Sou.

"Okay, we won't be seeing her for about… 5 minutes… ugh." Keitaro sighed.

"Auu… I hope Su will be okay Sempai…"

"I wouldn't worry about her… I'd be worried about how many bananas she's about to eat. But it's not my fault she's got an uncontrollable appetite for bananas, hah."

"True…"

"Well anyway though. Has Kitsune or Naru returned yet?"

"No they didn't. They didn't even phone back yet. I wonder what they're up to."

"Yeah, me too." _But not really, what they do is really none of my concern._ "Okay, is Motoko here? I'd like to talk to her for a second."

"Well actually she left about 20 minutes ago, saying something about making an important call to someone."

"Strange, and she needed to go out for that?"

"Well… it must be important if she didn't want anyone to listen." Shinobu thought out loud to herself. "But she said she would be quick, I'm sure she'll be back really soon."

"Ah, okay then. Well when she gets home could you tell her something for me?"

"Yes?"

"I'll be cleaning the hot springs right now so if she comes tell her to wait a while okay?"

"Ano… okay, but you know I could just clean the hot springs for you. I don't have anything to do right now."

"Shinobu… you're doing so much for this place already, I don't want you to strain or stress yourself over such things. You have too many responsibilities. Besides this is my job, heh."

"Okay… I just wanted to help…"

"Thanks Shinobu-chan… having you here has sure been a great experience." Keitaro said and lightly pet Shinobu's hair.

"H-hai! I promise to work harder sempai!"

Keitaro lightly chuckled. "Heh, okay I'm going now. Don't forget to tell Motoko okay? I don't want to feel her wraith again like last time."

"You can count on me sempai." After ruffling up Shinobu's hair a little bit he made his way towards his room to get dressed to do his chore. It was good timing for him as Su walked into the room and fell down on her face right in front of Shinobu. "Su…? What's wrong with you?"

"To…too many bananas… stomach is full… can't… move…" And the funny thing was she was saying this while chewing on a banana.

"Auu… Su." Shinobu sighed. "Here, let me help you to your room… up we go." She helped Su up to her feet and let her rest on her shoulder, Shinobu stumbled around a bit though because of the overwhelming weight. "Auu! SU!"

"Sowwie Shinomu…"

-/-/-/-/-/

Once Keitaro was done changing into his clothes he headed straight for the hot springs with his work equipment, his mop. When he got to the springs he took his time to clean everything up, he wasn't in that big of a rush and just enjoyed the scenery of the springs. These were just some of the few times he could really be alone and just relax without worries, where his mind was clear of all troubles.

"Maybe I should take a little dip before I go look for another job." In the previous days Keitaro had fixed many of the damaged parts of Hinata Sou thanks to Su's handy work. This wasn't cheap to repair Hinata Sou either and Keitaro had to pay a lot out of his own pocket for repairs. He had plenty of money but he wanted a job just in case something would happen and something else to do besides getting ready for Tokyo University. And knowing of Su's energetic ways she would cause more damage to Hinata Sou… very soon. _A genius mind in such a hyper and… psychotic girl, what a dangerous combination. _"Just what the damage have been if I played that crazy game with her…?" While he ponder and imagined the terrifying results of that thought he realised he was just about done cleaning the hot springs, just a little bit more to go. _Kanako… I'm still waiting for you, what's taking you so long? If you were here… then maybe everything would be different…_ He took a little rest before he was about to finish, but someone walked in on him.

"Urashima!!! You vile pervert!" Keiaro quickly looked over to the change rooms and saw that Motoko was glaring at him, giving him a stare with eyes only a killer could possess. He quickly turned away though when he noticed that she was only wrapped around in her towel with her sword drawn ready to strike. "You've been waiting here to spy on me haven't you?! You'll die for this you pervert!"

"W-wait you've got the wrong idea!"

"Silence! Prepare to die!" Motoko charged at him with her blade ready to pierce his flesh. Keitaro with his eyes still closed held out his mop in front of him hoping to block any attack she was going to throw at him.

_What the heck?! I'm starting to get annoyed with this! But she scares the hell out of me! _"Kyahh! Don't kill me!" He yelled out and shook in fear… but nothing happened to him. He opened one eye and saw Motoko standing a few inches away from him with a smirk. "Huh?"

"Just kidding Urashima. Shinobu informed me already." _I got her right and helped her bring Su to her room. It was a good thing I came a little early or else I would've come here and seriously have hurt him. What luck._

"Oh my god, don't scare me like that Motoko! Why are you even here?! I'm not done yet!" He yelled with his face red with anger and embarrassment.

"Huh? Sure looks like you're done." She looked around and saw the place just about spotless.

"Well it's not okay?! Geez…" Keitaro took a moment to calm down and sighed. "Sorry for yelling… I'm just a little stressed."

"…"

"Anyway I'll be done in a couple of minutes so gimme a sec."

"Actually Urashima I wanted to chat with you for a moment."

"Umm… can't this wait until I'm done?" Keitaro blushed and hid his face. "And… wouldn't you like to put on some clothes?"

"Eh?" Motoko blushed too and looked at herself. "Oh, umm, I was going to use the springs after."

"…Shoot yourself…" Keitaro mumbled to himself and resumed his job. He was done in only a minute and set his cleaning equipment away. The whole time Motoko sat down with her feet dangling into the springs. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"Okay… well this will be quick. I just have a favour to ask of you." She looked really nervous and tried her best to keep herself calm and cool.

"I see…" He said with that sort of 'go on' look.

"Would you please come with me to Kyoto tomorrow?" She said a little louder than a whisper.

"…Huh? Kyoto?" He sounded surprised.

"Y-yes."

"Why there?"

"Well, um, I needed to visit a relative there and I just didn't want to go alone."

"If that's the case, why don't you ask Naru or Kitsune?"

"I would but they seemed kind of busy."

_Man, you think that I'm not busy or something? Ugh, Kyoto… what to do there. Maybe I should pay sensei a visit… wait a minute!_ "You're visiting Tsuruko aren't you?"

"So you know… still though, what do you say?" _Please… just come with me, you don't know how important this is to me… please…_

"No."

"…What?" She was speechless at his blunt answer.

"I said no, I don't want to go with you." He said like it was the most obvious thing.

"Bu…but…"

"Hmm?" Keitaro looked confused, it looked like she was going to cry._ What the…?_

"Urashima…" Motoko walked up to him and starred at him right in the eyes. He expected her to give him a piercing glare… but she didn't; she was crying. "Please… reconsider, I'm asking for your help."

"M-Motoko…" _I thought that she was this strong and fierce independent girl. But… thought she puts up such a tough exterior she's just like a normal girl with a fragile heart inside. I can tell in her eyes that she was serious… she was nervous… but most of all she was so scared. She… she really wanted my help._

"So please… please say yes."

"Motoko." Keitaro calmed said and drew Motoko towards himself and warmly embraced her in his arms closely. "Okay… I'll go with you."

"Thank you." Motoko whispered and embraced him as well. _He may be a male, a pervert, a clumsy fool… but this man makes me feel happy at times. I'm beginning to see what my sister had been talking about for so long._ Something jerked in her mind though, her face really turned red. "Let go of me Urashima!"

"Huh?" Keitaro immediately let go of her and was shaved away by Motoko. Her face was still red from embarrassment of how close she was to him. She turned away from him and just stood there. "Umm… sorry about that. I was just trying to comfort you. I don't really like seeing girls cry."

"Just go okay? Don't you have a job to find or something? She coldly shot at him. But the coldness of her voice didn't effect him, that only made him smirk.

"That's right, thanks for the reminder." _There you go again Motoko, trying to hide yourself again, it doesn't suit you. But I must admit you're good at it… but I've seen your other side already. You're pretty strong to do such things…_ Keitaro walked away.

"Urashima." Keitaro stopped and looked back at her. She slightly turned her head around and peered at him. "We leave at 9:00 in the morning, make sure to rest up."

"Got it." Keitaro was now gone and Motoko was left alone. She submerged herself into the springs and relaxed her body. But her blush never vanished.

"Damn you Urashima…" _But thank you so much. I hope everything works out in the end… I truly do._

-/-/-/-/-/

"Ugh… okay, so let me get this straight Hinarei…" A man sat down outside at one of the café tables outside with Hinarei seated on the other side. The man was dressed in a typical black business suit and ruffled up his white hair. He didn't look too happy. "You were flung into the sky… landed in a truck full of bananas… ate all the bananas in under 5 minutes... was hit by said truck…and as a result was sent flying right into my house. Am I correct?" Hinarei nodded happily. "Hinarei! What the heck man!"

"Hey! I'm telling you the truth! You gotta believe me Zero!"

"Ugh." Zero rubbed his temples angrily to try and calm his headache that he got from Hinarei. "You broke my windows, my tables, and the trucker made **ME** pay for the bananas you ate!"

"Oh yeah, heh heh, pay you back later."

"Now you and I both know that's not happening."

"Yuuuuup!"

"Man…" Zero looked off to the side and spotted Keitaro walking towards him. Keitaro noticed Zero and waved to him happily. He nodded back to acknowledge him. "Hinarei, was good to see you and all but I've got an appointment with someone. I'll need you to leave."

"Hey! How did **YOU **become important in this story and not me?!"

"Cause I said so, now scat."

"Aww…" Hinarei pouted and walked away with a defeated look. Keitaro walked up and took Hinarei's place.

"Been a while Keitaro-kun."

"Sure has Zero-san. And thanks so much for helping me with this, I really appreciate it."

"Think nothing of it. Helping you find a job is an easy task for me anyway."

"Well then, what have ya got for me?"

"Well let's see…" Zero pulled out a notepad, several different names, numbers, and addresses. "I've got several friends who would be willing to employ you, they're not all that exciting though."

"It's okay, I'll take what I can get right now."

"Well then. My friend who owns a manga café is looking for some help stocking and organizing. Another one of my buds is looking for some help in construction around the Kyoto district. A computer art designer for kid's web sites…"

"Interesting…"_ Maybe doing some construction work would be good, but I got a feeling that'll be a full time job…_

"Then I got an upcoming mangaka looking for assistants. An opening at the kindergarten at the Tokyo schools. And lastly… oh my."

"What is it?"

"An assistant for one of the craziest archaeologists I know. You best stay away from that one."

"I'll take your word for it."

"So any of these sound interesting to you?"

"Well they all do, but right now I think I would like that manga café job."

"Well okay, I can't really guarantee you the job though it'll all be up to you and my friend. All I can say is don't mess up, she'll most likely give you a little test first."

"That sounds reasonable."

"Okay, here's the location. Ask for 'The Dark Evangal'"

-/-/-/-/-/

Keitaro arrived at a shopping district, many people were going in and out of a great variety of stores and window shopping. Keitaro walked up to a store that had a very kind looking and beautiful woman standing by the door with a smile on her face, she looked right at Keitaro.

"Hello, you must be Keitaro-san." She said with a glimmer of sunshine around her.

"U-umm, yes I am." _Whoa, that's a little too happy for me._ "Are you The Dark Evangal?"

"That is correct, but you can call me Eva. Please come in." She opened the door for Keitaro and the two of them walked in. The store was empty but it was only like that because she just opened up the store. But inside it looked pretty normal as a normal manga café would look. "Now I assume that Zero-san has told you about me right?"

"Yes he has. So what do you want me to do?"

"Well I would like you to just organise all of those mangas in the right place…" She pointed to a far corner where a large pile of mangas laid on top of a table.

"Odd, I didn't see those." _I swear those weren't there before._

"Also as you can see I have my mangas organised into their different genres and in alphabetical order. You can do that right?"

"Sure, piece of cake."

30 minutes later…

"Well let's see what you've done so far." Keitaro stopped what he was doing to let her inspect his progress. "What the… you've got so many of these in the wrong places… the volumes of each book aren't even in order, nothing is in alphabetical order and, what's this? A.I. Love You in Horror?!"

"Oh crud… should've read those titles closer…" _What's wrong with me? I would never make such weird and stupid mistakes like this…_

"I'm sorry but if you're going to work like this there's no place for you here. You don't get the job."

"Ugh… I understand…" _No biggie I guess, I'll just get Zero-san and see if he can get me another employer. Maybe that mangaka assistant will do the trick._

-/-/-/-/-/

"We'll need this… and this, oh and this, and that…" Kitsune kept grabbing off various random items off the shelves of the store into her shopping cart. Naru was following closely behind her with a big sweat drop going down her head.

"Do we really need all this stuff right now? She's not coming for another couple of days you know. Besides… isn't this a bit much?"

"Come on girl, how often does she come to visit you like this?"

"Well… this is actually the first."

"See? We really gatta make her feel welcome. So just suck it up okay?"

"Okay okay. You have a point there, but it's still not that big of a deal."

"My god Naru, what's wrong with you?"

"Sorry, I'm just lost in my thoughts right now. You're right though. Do we have everything we need now?" Naru pointed at the shopping cart with the mountain of items piled on top._ So much on my mind… just what do I do though? I mean, should I try and make up? Keitaro… I can see that he's a really nice guy now, but he's just so cold towards me. It hurts me so… but I can't blame him, but he should be able to forgive and forget. Just what am I to do?_

"Just about." Kitsune said and counted the various items. "I'm just guessing but I think this should come up to at least 25 000 yen."

"…What?"

"25 000 yen."

"Okay, once again. WHAT?!"

"Don't worry, Keitaro's paying for us."

"Huh? And how is that?

"With…this!" Kitsune pulled out a wallet.

"Isn't that-"

"Yup! It's Keitaro's wallet! Huzzah for us!"

"Oh Kitsune…"

-/-/-/-/-/

Keitaro walked through the studio doors of a manga studio and was following a tall long red headed man dressed in normal business clothes. Keitaro shuffled through his pockets wildly suddenly and received a raised eyebrow from the man as they entered through the doors into the work area.

"What are you doing Urashima-san?" He asked and fixed his glasses, laying his hand on an empty work desk.

"Seems I left my wallet at home."

"Do you really need it right now?"

"No, not really I suppose. Please continue Ryo-san."

"Very well then. Zero-kun told me a lot about you, seems he has high hopes for you."

"Well that's nice of him to say."

"I hope you're ready to do some hard work."

"Yes sir. What do I do?"

"As you know I needed a few assistants with helping me develop my manga, so your main goal right now is the following in this test piece." Ryo laid out a roughly drawn but still very fine drawing in manga panels. It was all done in pencil but still looked amazing. "Now your goal right now is to just darken this all with black ink or Indian ink. Also I got some tones of the ones I've sketched in there on the desk."

"Okay, this shouldn't be too difficult." Keitaro sat down at the desk and observed his task.

"Well I'll come check on you in a few minutes; I have to go check on my other assistants to see how they're doing. Work hard now."

30 minutes later… again…

"Mind if I take a look at your progress?" Ryo walked up to Keitaro's side and peered over.

"Sure, I hope you'll be pleased." Keitaro handed over his work to Ryo and he happily accepted it.

"I'm sure I-" Ryo's eyes and mouth dropped with surprise. "…won't…" Ryo but back the 'work' face down in front of Keitaro. "That was horrible, I can't even believe I drew that."

"Huh? What was wrong with it?"

"I don't even want to start with that. Let's just say you don't get the job okay? End of discussion." Ryo walked away with a disgusted look. Keitaro could only sigh and gather his things and leave.

"Wow, that was unexpected. I always thought of myself as a talented drawer." Keitaro picked up the page he was touching up and the problem with this was that when Ryo took it he accidentally smeared all the ink all over. "Wow, no wonder. Hey wait a minute, it was his fault then!" _oh never mind, I'm sure Zero-san can just get me another… and another…ugh…_

No matter how he approached things, no matter what he did… he always messed up with his employers in some way that made them not want him. Zero tried his best to get him a few jobs but soon word got out to Zero's friends about Keitaro and soon no one really wanted to employ Keitaro. Zero told him about this and the long day was soon coming to an end with a sunset at 6:00.

"What a crummy day. Getting fired five times all in the same day. What kind of bad luck is this? And the sun's already going down, what a waste of a day. Just perfect…" Keitaro sighed and thought about his next move. _Zero said he would try again tomorrow to convince someone to employ me. I sure hope that he's successful. I gatta make some extra cash somehow…_

**CLANK!!! BUMP!!! SHATTER!!!**

"Oh my, not again!" Keitaro looked off to the side and saw a tall slender man trying to load several old looking antiques and boxes into his white van. But they just kept falling out and the sound of glass shattering was heard all over. "This is so troublesome…"

"Need a hand?" Keitaro approached him and offered his help. He was an older looking man with a rugged look upon him but his glasses made him look very intelligent. The two smiled and Keitaro helped him load his things in, no objects were broken this time and the two closed the door. "There you go, a lot easier with two huh?"

"Thanks a bunch my friend, you sure saved me a lot of time and broken artefacts."

"No biggie." Keitaro looked at the man's van and thought a little._ That stuff kind of looked familiar._ "That was some pretty interesting things. I could swear those looked exactly like earthenware from some kind of ancient civilization."

"Ah, you've got a good eye there young man!" He smacked his van hard with a smile and several small shattering sounds came from inside. _Whoops!_ "These were just some of the earthenware that I unearthed from the ruins on a island on my travels!" He proudly said this with a triumphant tone.

"Fascinating. I'd love to work with such things as that someday."

"Oh? Then how about you work for me then?! I've got my own business traveling the world to discover these artifacts and more!"

"Huh?"

"I sure could use an assistant in my work. I mean, everything has been such a mess lately. What do you say my friend?"

"Well, uhh… I guess so…"

"Great!" The man held out his hand to Keitaro. "The name is Seta Noriyasu. Pleased to meet you."

"Heh, I'm Keitaro Urashima. The pleasure is all mine." Keitaro accepted his hand and they shook._ Wow, how lucky was that?_

"Keitaro… Urashima?"

"Hmm? Is something wrong?"

"No, it's nothing. Just my imagination." _He couldn't be related to her… could he? Maybe it's just a coincidence._

"Anyway though, when do I start?"

"Tomorrow around 7:30AM would be the best."

"What?! Tomorrow?" Keitaro squinted his eyes with disappointment. _That… isn't going to be good. I have to go to Kyoto with Motoko. I can't break my word to her. But I really want this job… but I'm a man of my word, maybe I'll find another one later. _"I see, that's a problem."

"What is it?"

"Well… the thing is that… well I… I'm going to Kyoto that day with someone. Sorry."

"Did you say Kyoto? That shouldn't be a problem then. That's where I was planning to go anyway!"

"N-no way, seriously?"

"Yeah, I needed to drop these off to someone tomorrow. How about we meet around the Kyoto Tower? Of course when you're done doing your business with your companion."

"Sounds good. Hopefully my business won't take long."

"Well that's great, everything will go according to plan." Seta smiled happily and got into his van. "Hey, where do you live? I'll give you a lift."

"Huh, oh thank you." Keitaro got into the passenger seat. "I live at Hinata Sou," Seta gave him a confused look that was actually more surprised. "Uhh… do you know where that is?"

"Oh, uh, yeah I do. I was just thinking." Seta started the engine. "Well, Hinata Sou it is."

-/-/-/-/-/

Naru and Kitsune had finally returned from their little shopping spree. Naru had retired to her room to relax herself from her… exciting day with Kitsune. Carefully putting away the things they bought in her room she decided to just lay down on her futon. Kitsune though carefully slided Keitaro's wallet back into his bag in his room, with much of his income gone as well. In the end of it all she went over and crashed at Haruka's place. Good timing too since the last customer of the day left and Haruka put up her 'closed' sign, Kitsune sat down, tired, at one of the tables. Haruka sat across from her.

"So… Kitsune, you'd better pay back Keitaro, got it?" She glared at her as seriously.

"Huh? What do you mean? Pay him back for what?" Kitsune asked innocently.

"Hey, don't try and pull that one over me. I know you all too well. Plus it's written all over you face, you stole Keitaro's wallet to pay for all that stuff.

"…" _Wow, just how did she just do that? I can't be that predictable… can I? Still though she doesn't know for sure! I must defend myself! _"I prefever the word 'borrowed.'"

"…"

"…" _Oops._

"Doesn't matter, if you don't pay him back then you're messing with me."

"Okay okay, you got me. I'll pay him back. Sheesh Haruka, why do you care so much?"

"Do you really need to ask me that? He's family." Haruka intensly stared into Kitsune's eyes. "He's also someone who deserves all the happiness in the world. When I see something, anything, bad happen to him it just down right pisses me off."

"Whoa, don't ever let me get on your bad side." Kitsune jokingly said. _I never thought she felt that way._

"Well, hurry up and pay him back then." _Or else you may find all of your booze gone._

"Hey look… isn't that Keitaro?" She pointed outside at Keitaro who was just standing far away from the shop looking up at Hinata Sou. He was talking but due to their distance nothing could be heard. "He looks kind of happy."

"That so now?" Haruka glanced outside and her jaw dropped the second Seta walked beside Keitaro. "Seta?!" Her face flushed slightly and soon did Kitsune's.

"Why the heck is he here?!"

"Huh? You know him?!"

Now as Haruka and Kitsune talk from the side, Keitaro was having a pleasant conversation with Seta. Seta wasn't even paying attention to Kitsune and Haruka but Keitaro sure noticed but ignored them.

"Well… there's Hinata Sou."

"My oh my. Still looks the same even after all those years."

"You've been here before?"

"Sort of. I didn't really go IN Hinata Sou, just near it many times."

"Is that so…"

"Well you know I changed my mind, 7:30AM too early to meet up. How about we meet up at Kyoto Tower around 11:30AM? I don't want to rush you or anything."

"It sounds good but why the sudden change?"

"No reason really." _None that concerns you right now anyway._ "I should be going now. I'll talk to you later Keitaro… oh ya, here's a little something for helping me." Seta handed over a couple 10 000 yen bills. "There's a lot more where that came from when you work." Keitaro smiled and waved to Seta when he left.

"What a strange guy… nice, but strange." Keitaro slipped the cash into his pocket.

"Keitaro!" Haruka yelled out to him as she and Kitsune ran his way.

"Haruka, Kitsune. What is it? And what the heck were you guys doing over there?"

"What were you doing with Seta?!" Haruka asked impatiently and ignored what he had just said.

"Huh? You know him?" Keitaro rubbed off the odd feeling he was getting from the two girls. "Well he just dropped me off here. Also I'm working for him now."

"Ah, good…" _Keitaro's working for Seta? Well this could be troublesome if handled the wrong way. Just must keep myself calm and collected._ "He didn't mention me did he?"

"Hmm? I believe he didn't." _What an odd question to ask… how does she even know Seta?_ "All he really did was reminisce about the past on Hinata Sou. Interesting fellow."

"I see." _Thank god, he didn't talk about me. I'm saved for now. I hope Kitsune can get the info she wants too._

"Now Keitaro, listen to me carefully. Now at any point did Seta ever mention Naru in any way?"

"What? No! He didn't mention anyone! What's with you two? And how do you both know him?!"

"Phew… it's nothing Keitaro."_ Oh that is such a relief, now Naru won't have to know about this._

"Y-yeah, it's nothing."_ This is good, this is good. Maybe he forgot about me, yeah, that's it. Seta forgot about me… I hope._

"…Okay… you guys are weird." Keitaro rose an eyebrow to the both of them and walked away towards Hinata Sou. _Well today sure has been an interesting day. So many bad things had happened but I'm happy with this end result. Now that I've got my job down, I can relax a little. But I wonder why exactly Motoko wants me to go with her so bad. I can't say I'm not suspicious of her intentions. I'm worried._

Keitaro walked down the halls to his room and collapsed right onto his floor, closing his eyes. "It's so early but I just wanna sleep forever…" He glared at his ceiling and his eyes couldn't be kept off the hole separating his and Naru's room. It occurred to him that he was treating her so very different from the rest of the girls, all due to his personal feelings. He didn't really hate her so he didn't want things to be like this. _To be honest with myself… I guess I was acting this way because in some ways… she reminds me so much about Yukari. But I must remember she isn't her… she is somewhere else. Come on Keitaro, you have to make up and say you're sorry to her. _Keitaro got to his feet and walked under the hole and peered up. Grabbing his stool he placed it right under and stood on it to get higher. He had his fist ready to knock.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

But she knocked first. "…Keitaro?" Naru asked quietly but loud enough for him to hear. Keitaro was a bit stunned at first. "Can I talk to you?" _Please answer me… I know you're there, I hear you walk in._

"Sure… can we do this face to face though?" He calmly asked.

"Okay." Naru opened up the floor board and offered her hand to him. Keitaro smiled and accepted her help and jumped into her room. "Keitaro, I-"

"Naru, please let me speak first." Naru stopped talking and listened. "Look, I know I've been kind of hard and all to you and being so cold. But let me first say that I'm sorry… I've just been through too much right now and I guess I've been lashing it mostly on you. I'm sorry if I've hurt you in any way, please forgive me."

"Idiot."

"What?"

"I'm the one who should be sorry. I should've been more sensitive towards your feelings and not have come to such ridiculous conclusions of you. I know that you're a nice and kind person and that's the kind of person I'd like to have as a friend. So maybe we can put this all behind us. I hope that we can still be friends."

"Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way." Keitaro held out his hand and shook her's. "I hope we get along better than before."

"I hope so too…" _That's good... after all you've gone through something similar to his situation in a way. You should know how he feels… being friends is a good start. I really like him..._

-/-/-/-/-/

The next day around 9:00AM on a clear morning day, a taxi stopped in the middle of the road in parked itself in front of a bus stop.

"That'll be 3500 Yen." The driver said to his customer. The girl paid him with exact change and got out with a single suitcase and a long eared black cat perched on her shoulder. "Thank you m'am." He then drove away and left her alone.

"Kanako." The cat whispered in her ear. "Are you sure about doing this."

"What are you talking about Kuro? He deserves to know." She said back to her cat. Good thing no one was around her or else this would look really odd.

"I won't argue with you there." Kuro jumped off and stood before her. "But you might get a really bad reaction from him. I mean, he's already in a fragile state. Maybe it's best he doesn't find out just right now."

"It doesn't matter Kuro. He of all people needs to know this." Kanako picked up Kuro and perched him on her shoulder again. "He needs to know… he has to know what Yukari's been up to. This is too important." Kanako looked in the direction of Hinata Sou, the sun shining on her eyes. "I'm coming oniichan."

**End Chapter**

_Zero Eiyuu: Ahem, sorry for taking so long but I've been kind of busy with school, work, and gaming. Yeah, too much playing games for me, but I just love Lineage 2 so much! But besides this I hope you've enjoyed reading this. So what did you guys think? Honestly I thought this chapter was kind of boring and progressed really slowly but I thought that it really builds up for what's coming up next. But yeah, I thought this was a little boring but it was sure exciting to write. Oh yeah, here's a little note about some of those characters that appeared._

_Zero: That's me!_

_Ryo Misaki: That's a friend of mine!_

_The Dark Evangal: That's another friend!_

_Hinarei: A friend whos a… pervert…_

_But yeah, oh boy, finally Kanako is in the picture for real and what's this? She has some big news for Keitaro?! I wonder what it is! Oh wait… no I don't I already know what it is! Ahahah! I'll leave you to imagine what it could possibly be and how it would affect Keitaro! I must say it's big though!_

_But all in all I hope you really liked reading this. Fans of my story I hope you're pleased so far, and first time readers of my story… yo! Okay, enough of this, please review if you loved it, hated it, or don't know what to say! Everyone's input matters… just when you bash my story don't be too brutal!_

_Sayonara minna-san!_


	6. Chapter 5

_Zero Eiyuu: Hello readers, what a wonderful day it is to upload another chapter of a story of love._

_Say… have you ever wondered how a friend or family member was doing? Ever wondered if they were happy, sad, or just bored? I say this because you should cherish your moments with all of your friends and family. Because you just don't know… and I don't like to say this, it might be the last time you see and talk to them. I say this because I had something tragic happen to me and wish I had gotten to have more happy times with that person I cared for._

Oh yeah... I am fuly ware that... all my chapters are numbered weird... I'm just to lazy to change it. Y'know, this is chapter 5 but it was chapter 6 at the top right? **sigh**

_Please though, enjoy this chapter._

**Chapter 5: The Shattered Hope**

It was a little over 6:00AM when Keitaro was abruptly woken up all of a sudden. It took some time for his eyes to focus on the one shaking him right now but it put on his glasses and saw who it was. It was Motoko and she looked a little bit excited but at the same time scared. She was still vigorously shaking Keitaro and he looked annoyed trying to sleep.

"What the heck is it? It's… 6:00! We don't leave for another three hours!" Keitaro bundled himself up and turned away from her.

"There's been a change of plans, we have to leave right now!" Motoko continued to shake him. "Get up Urashima!" She was still dressed in her pyjamas which make her look like a child trying to wake up her father, it was quite cute.

"Okay okay, I'm getting up! You can stop that now." Keitaro sat up and gave an annoyed glare to Motoko. He didn't bother to cover up his chest with Motoko there mainly because he didn't even realise he slept with no shirt. "Oh, sorry, lemme get my shirt."

"I-it's okay." Motoko stammered. Then something caught her eye on his body, something she never noticed before. "Urashima… what is that?"

"What is what?"

"That wound just under your left shoulder." She pointed it out the wound. As she said it was just under his shoulder, it didn't look all that bad but it was odd.

"Oh… this." Keitaro placed his hand over it to cover "This is something… that I don't like to talk about. So… umm…"

"Understood, I'll respect that."

"I'll be ready in a few minutes okay?"

"Okay."

"…" Keitaro blankly stared up at her. She have him the 'what are you looking at?' look. "…Right, thought I didn't have to say this but, could you at least leave me room while I change?"

"Huh? Oh! Ahh! Sorry!" She blushed madly and ran out of his room very embarrassed.

"Geez… so sleepy…" Keitaro lightly touched his wound and smirked. _It sure has been a while… Yukari, just how are you doing? I just hope you know that I still think of you. My heart still belongs to you. Bu… just what is going on though. _Keitaro but on his black sweater and jeans quickly. "Must remember, meet Seta-san around 12:00."

"Alright let's go!" Motoko slammed Keitaro's door opened and she was already dressed in her normal Gi. Before Keitaro could react, she pulled on his sleeve and dragged him away.

"Gah! I can walk you know?" He said and shrugged her grasp off of him when they got to the front of Hinata Sou outside. "Okay let's go… wait, shouldn't we tell the others?"

"I only told Haruka-san. I'm sure that she'll tell everyone else later on."

-/-/-/-/-/

Meanwhile at Haruka's place.

"There's something I'm suppose to do… something really important. Oh yeah! I know!" Haruka pulls out her smokes and takes a drag. "Ahh… that's the stuff.

-/-/-/-/-/

"Well okay, if it's Haruka I can trust her. But when we get to your sister's place, please hurry because I have an important appointment later on there."

"I won't make any promises, but I'll try."

"That's all I can really ask for."

With no more time wasted Keitaro and Motoko got to the train station and boarded their designated train. Soon the train was off and they were on their way to Kyoto at last. Together they sat side by side but the two didn't talk to each other, it was too quite between them. Motoko was fidgeting a lot from being so bored and soon stood up and walked away from Keitaro towards the middle of the train, grabbing hold of the handle bar from the ceiling.

"How am I going to do this?" She said to herself. _She's smart, I can't tell if this'll work or not. It all really depends on Urashima though. But what am I thinking though, he won't be able to cooperate if I don't tell him. But I just can't up ad tell him like that. Thus isn't good. _Keitaro peered over at Motoko and raised an eyebrow. She just turned her back to him. _Geez, what is he looking aaaaaAAAAACK! WHAT THE?!_ Motoko glared behind her and saw a man in his early forties touching her where he really shouldn't and he didn't show any signs that he would stop. Motoko was both embarrassed and enraged, she was about to strike this pervert down where he stood. She got her bokken ready for just that purpose. "Y-you…!"

"Sir, you really shouldn't be doing that." Keitaro came up and firmly grabbed a hold on the man's shoulder. "It's very impolite to treat women like that." Keitaro squeezed tightly and dug his nails into him, that made this pervert wince in pain and pull his hand away from Motoko. "Got it?" Keitaro finished his conversation with a deathly evil, dark, and killer stare right into his eyes.

"Y-yes sir!" This guy's face was full of fear. He was actually soiling himself without his knowledge…

"Hmph…" Keitaro let go and watch as he ran for his life away from them. Keitaro took a step closer to Motoko and faced his back right up against hers as if to keep watch. Motoko blushed at his display.

"You know, I could've handled that by myself."

"That may be so. But the way you would've handled it would've caused… a lot of trouble you know?" Keitaro took a peek back at Motoko. "You can take your hand off your bokken now you know?"

"…" She let go of her bokken. She knew he was right but just didn't want to admit it. "Well you don't have to keep standing by me. I'm sure no one would dare do what he did again."

"I doubt it."

"Huh?"

"You're an attractive and beautiful girl. I wouldn't really be all that surprised ."

"!!!" Motoko was speechless. _Why would he say such a thing?_

"Besides… if we talk like this to each other it'll sure make this ride seem sort." Keitaro turned his body and faced Motoko. "So what do we talk about?"

"Heh…" Motoko turned around and faced him as well. "I don't know."

Just at that moment another train went right by Keitaro and Motoko's. It's the same train that Kanako was currently riding to get close to Hinata Sou. As soon as she would get off she would call a taxi and head right for Hinata Sou with news of her recent discovery. But after some meaningless conversation between Motoko and Keitaro they had arrived at their destination. Kyoto.

"Hmm… seems like we can walk the rest of the way from here." Motoko suggested.

"Yeah… so it seems." Keitaro looked at his watch. It's 7:30. _Hmm, I've got plenty of time to kill. But I would like this to end soon to get some free time._ In a matter of minutes they arrived at the doors to the Aoyama Dojo. Keitaro took this time to marvel at all of its glory._ Still looks amazing as ever. _They entered through the front doors and saw a young lady with long white silky hair dressed in a traditional gi sweeping up the floors. She immediately recognized Motoko.

"Motoko-sama, welcome home." She said with a bow. Motoko bowed back to her.

"Ohayou gozaimasu Mitsuki-chan. Where is Tsuruko-sensei?"

"Sensei? I believe she's in her quarters right now."

"Ah, good. I can talk with her privately then." She turned to Keitaro. "This will only take a moment okay? Just wait here till I come back."

"Yes. Got it." Motoko walked away and down a hall out of sight. Mitsuki and Keitaro were left alone. "It's been a while Mitsuki-chan. You've definitely grown up since I last saw you."

"Thanks Keitaro-kun. Four years will do that to you though."

"Yeah… has sensei been treating you good?"

"Well yes. She's a bit on the strict side but she takes good care of us students. She's really kind after all."

"Good to hear she hadn't changed." Keitaro looked at a couple of shinai bamboo swords lying in the centre of the room. He glanced at them for just one second but so did Mitsuki. In that split second the two of them jumped for the swords and grabbed one and jumped away from each other. Both pointed their swords at the other and got into their battle stances. "That was almost as fast as me Mitsuki-chan, you really HAVE changed."

"Hmph, I take it your previous remark was just to mock me then?"

"Nothing like that. I'm just a bit surprised that's all."

"Heh, you haven't seen anything yet."

"Then let us spar!" _At last I'm back here. I can free my mind and body and concentrate on my skills for once, unlike that time Motoko got me back then at Hinata Sou. This time it's completely different. Feel my wrath Mitsuki-chan!_

Meanwhile in the sensei's quarters in the dojo, Motoko sat down in front of an older woman who wore a calm and serene look upon her. She herself was dressed in a gi much like Motoko's and had a giant yellow bird sitting on her shoulder.

"Perfect timing Motoko-chan! Does this mean you're here to take over the family dojo?" Sensei asked happily.

"Huh? Sensei-"

"Please stop calling me that Motoko-chan! We're family!"

"Uhh, very well then Tsuruko-sama. As I told you before on the phone I distinctively said I WASN'T ready to take over the dojo. Don't you remember? It was just yesterday!"

"Ara?" Tsuruko tilted her head to the side playfully.

"Sigh I said I was getting married. You even told me I should come and bring him over." _Sure hope this works._ "I brought him over with me. And as you know I can't take over the dojo if I am to be married. So… sorry Tsuruko-sama."

"… I see… that's really too bad. WAIT! You've got a **fiancé**Is he here?!"

_You must be kidding me. Nee-sama must've gotten senile…_ "Umm yes, he's in the demonstration room right now. But we really have to get going so you won't have any time to meet him so-!"

"Nonsense! Come now! Let me meet him and give you my blessings! Also I have to be honest Motoko-chan, I thought you'd never find a man to marry you, I mean you're just so scary sometimes."

"Uhh…" _Well THAT'S a nice thing to say… NOT! Besides you're scarier than me! I've taken lessons from you before! _"No, but we, uh, really have to be going!"

"Oh I can't wait to meet him. He must be some kind of tough hotshot guy with a hot body if he got you attracted to him!"

"Hey! I never said I fell for him!" _What am I talking about?! She's making me crazy!_

"Come on, let's go let's go!"

"O-okay." _This isn't good. Urashima… please cooperate._

Sounds of battle were heard all throughout the dojo. Keitaro and Mitsuki had been in the heat of battle since Motoko had left and none of them showed signs of fatigue. Motoko and Tsuruko watched with silence at the two of them.

"Heeyaaaah!" Mitsuki parried Keitaro's basic attack and did a little spin while slashing up towards him. Keitaro blocked with his sword and was a bit back by her strength and jumped away to get some distance between them.

"Too close." _She's improved quite a bit in these years. She has a lot of potential with Tsuruko but this is starting to get a bit annoying. Time to take this up a notch._ Keitaro ran up to Mitsuki, she had her sword ready to block and counter anything he was going to throw at her. Keitaro charged and shot his foot right to her face, she barely blocked it with her sword and was knocked back into a stumble. With Keitaro's chance to strike he struck his sword down right at Mitsuki, she was still able to block it but now lost complete balance. Keitaro kept going though with his momentum, he struck the floor then spun around with a backhand uppercut slash, knocking her sword into the air.

"… Nice one Keitaro-kun. Completely caught me off guard.

"You did well too Mitsuki-chan." Keitaro held his sword at his hip and grinned. "Maybe someday you'll be able to beat me."

"Hmph." Mitsuki wasn't really concerned as she grasped her falling sword in the air and in a second had it at Keitaro's neck. He didn't even move and was shocked. "Careful, that day may come sooner than you think."

**CLAP CLAP CLAP**

"That was quite impressive you two!" Tsuruko praised. Motoko followed closely behind and was surprised at Keitaro's skills. But she was more concerned about how she was going to get herself out of this situation. Keitaro and Mitsuki gave a quick bow to her. Mitsuki though felt embarrassed and ran off to clean another room in a different area out of sight. She didn't really like to fight in front of Tsuruko, something about fighting in front of her sensei really got her nervous. "Kei-kun!" She wrapped her arms around him for a hug.

"Uhh, good to see you as well Tsuruko-sensei."

"Likewise Kei-kun!" Tsuruko released him from her bear like embrace and her happiness slightly faded away just looking at him. "I'm… I'm sorry for what happened at your wedding day. I have no idea what's going through her mind right now."

"Thanks… wait, you were there?"

"Of course I was silly! You sent me the invitation yourself! Don't you remember?"

"Oh yeah, I forget about that for a second there."

"Well this is sure a treat but…" Tsuruko faced Motoko. "Where's your fiancé?"

Keitaro's interest sparked when Tsuruko asked this. He gave Motoko a quick ticked off look. _Why is it that I have a bad feeling about this?_ "Motoko…" he muttered under his breath.

"What are you saying Tsuruko-sama?" Motoko held her hand out to Keitaro to put him on the spot. "He's right there. Right, Kei-kun?" _Ugh… that was harder to say than I though… bah, Kei-kun?!_

_Yeah… this isn't good._ "Uh… heh, heheh." Keitaro nervously said nonsensically.

"What?!" Tsuruko gasped and looked dumbfounded right at Keitaro. "Really?! Is this true?!"

"UH…!" Keitaro looked just as surprised as she was. This came to a sudden shock to him and looked to Motoko for answers. Interestingly enough though when he looked at her she was writing down something a piece of paper. She held it up. _Please play along, I'll explain later… what the heck?! Why is she, why the, grr… I guess this must be really important to her if she's doing this. Fine Motoko… I'll play along for now just for you._ "Yeah that's right, it's true…"

"?!?!" Keitaro walked beside Motoko and held her hand while at the same time rested his arm on her back. _W—W—W—What is he doing?!_

"I have to make this look convincing Motoko." Keitaro whispered into her air. She fully understood this but just the hot air of his breath made her body tingle and her face flush. Keitaro didn't feel strange at all though, he thought he'd be embarrassed like Motoko but he just wasn't. It was possible that he being in a relationship, more intimate than this, before made him stronger in this sense. "I'm her fiancé, surprised?"

"Seriously?! I mean, wow! Kei-kun that's amazing! I must say, you healed from that tragedy pretty quickly. I'm happy for you, I didn't like the things I heard from your parents."

"Y—yeah, things like this… don't faze me that badly…" Keitaro looked away slightly. Truth be told he ate him up inside much worse than anyone could think. But he was strong and didn't show this much, and at times when he did it wasn't serious. _Okay, now that that's done we have to get out of here before she starts asking questions!_ "We thought we'd just come in and say this, we'll be on our way now, bye-bye—"

"Wait! You must tell me how you two met! I must hear of this with my own two ears!" _I can't say I'm not happy… but something seems wrong about this whole thing… But that look on Motoko-chan's face, it's just so convincing! Could this really be the moment I've been waiting for?!_ She was very eager.

_Oh come on! _"I don't know you might be busy right now so we'll just get out of your hair! Come on Motoko-chan!"

_We must flee!_ "Yes Keitaro-kun!" Motoko's mouth slightly twisted up saying his name like that. It was quite funny, luckily Tsuruko hadn't noticed.

"Oh no no no!" Tsuruko grabbed their hands before they could move and made them all sit down. "I have all the time in the world, please tell me! I'd love to hear this!"

Knowing that there was no way to weasel their way out of this, Keitaro and Motoko weren't in a good spot right now._ Okay… she won't let us go without telling her… what could I say, come on Keitaro, think!_

"Urashima… what are we going to do?" Motoko whispered

"Don't worry." _I just got a good one. I just hope that she'll buy it. And knowing her… she probably will._ "You see it was on that day that I met Motoko-chan at Hinata Sou. I came there with Grandma Hina and was instantly greeted by her. I could tell from the way she talked to me that she was one of those shy girls who puts up that real tough exterior to conceal their cuteness."

"Sure sounds like her."

"Hey!"

"Heh heh, yeah. Well anyway though when I was with her I was just so happy. When I was with her I felt like nothing else matter. With Motoko-chan I could forget all the pain. But, I don't know, something about her really interested me. It must've been the way she walked or talked or something."

"Maybe it was her figure? Doesn't she have a nice body?"

"Neesama! Don't say such a thing!" Motoko's face was furiously red with embarrassment.

"No actually… it was her smile."

"Huh?"

"Interesting… go on…"

"It had taken me a while but that was actually it. When I saw her smile I could see past everything and look into her true nature. She was a really nice and gentle girl."

"…"

"…"

"And as the days had pasted by we spent more and more time together and quickly realised that we really liked each other, well actually I don't know about Motoko-chan here, but for me it was love at first sight. And with her, my hurtful memories of that past just seem to fade and fade away slowly. And soon it will just be a distant memory."

"…"

"…"

"And that's it." Keitaro looked into the eyes of Motoko and smiled happily. "I truly do love you Motoko-chan?"

"K…Keitaro…kun."

"Oh my gosh that is BEAUFITUL! I mean, wow! Kei-kun I never knew you felt that way about my little sister!"

"Heh, I never thought I could feel this way about her too… It…" Keitaro stared at Motoko with sleepy eyes. "It was a big surprise." He stood up and brought Motoko up with him. "Well we should be going now, I hope you understand Tsuruko."

"Yes, yes. I've heard enough." She watched the two of them walk off away but she wasn't really fully done with them. "Motoko-chan!" They stopped and both turned to face her.

"Yes…?"

"Congratulations…"

-/-/-/-/-/

Motoko and Keitaro stayed silent when they walked away. Motoko had expected Keitaro to be furious right after but he didn't seem the slightest bit angry at all. She was a bit scared at this.

"Urashima… I just want to say thank you for this."

"…" He stayed quiet.

"…I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. But…" She stopped and showed no signs of continuing.

"It's okay, just tell me when you're ready. I won't judge you or anything right now. All I know is that you were desperate and I can understand that. But I just wish you had told me this before. If I knew this was THIS important to you then I would've done this in a second." He didn't sound mad or anything, rather sympathetic. "I'm not mad at you or anything just to let you know, just a little bit annoyed."

"…"

"…Hey! And did you see the face on Tsuruko-sensei?! She really bought it! I mean I didn't expect a reaction like that! Haha!"

"Y-yeah, me too." _But to be honest with myself, I actually thought it was true too. You are really amazing you know that?_

"Ah… that was good. But anyway though I have to go to my appointment now. I trust you can get back to Hinata Sou by yourself… or do you need me by your side again for THAT?"

"N-no! I don't need anyone! I can perfectly do that by myself!"

"Just kidding with you Motoko…" Keitaro walked away. "I'll see you back at Hinata Sou, I won't be back for a good few hours."

"H—hai…"

-/-/-/-/-/

At this time… Kanako had arrived to Hinata Sou and she was really hoping to meet up with her brother. She was so happy and anxious his reaction would be… she hoped he would take the news well.

"I'm telling you Kanako, don't do it!" Kuro yelled at her from her shoulder. She didn't pay attention to him though, it was like Kuro wasn't even there. "sigh What a stubborn girl…" Kanako opened up the front door and saw no one, it was completely quiet.

"Hmm…" She took off her shoes, leaving her in her black socks, and set down her briefcase. Kuro jumped off her shoulder and looked around ahead of her. "Oniichan! It's Kanako!" There was no answer.

"Maybe he went out?"

"Maybe… still though, there should be some other people here too. He can't live here by himself." _Also I wonder where Grandma Hina and Haruka-san are._ "Kuro, you search upstairs, I'll search around this floor."

"What am I looking for?"

"The other tenants. I'd like to know who else is living here with oniichan. And make it quick. There's a can of tuna in it for you."

"Sold!" Kuro immediately ran upstairs leaving nothing but a cloud of dust in his place.

"Now… lets see." Kanako left her briefcase aside and made her way into the kitchen. No one was there, nothing was on the table, and nothing was on. _Might as well have a snack._ She went to the refrigerator and spotted a strawberry cheesecake neatly cut up into 10 small pieces. _Looks pretty good._ Taking out a plate and fork, she begun to eat a piece.

**BOOOMM!**

"What the heck was that?!" Kanako yelled when a large explosion was heard from upstairs.

**BOOOOM! BOOOOOM! Crack…**

Kanako looked up above her at the ceiling; it was starting to crack and showed signs of breaking. She took a few steps back and took another bite of her cake.

**CRASH!**

Kuro crashed right through the ceiling and onto the floor before Kanako. He didn't look to okay and looked very bruised. He crawled over to Kanako's leg, she could keep her eyes off the huge hole in the ceiling though. It looks liked an expensive thing to repair.

"I'm afraid to ask, but what happened Kuro?"

"… I found the other tenants… nya…"

"Male or female?" She put down her cake on the table and picked up Kuro and placed him on her shoulder.

"It was hard for me to tell with 1000 lasers shooting at me, but I was sure that it was a girl. By my guess maybe 13 years old. She scares me… a lot."

"Well that's one person, let's keep looking."

"That won't be necessary. While I was sneaking into her room, which was like a jungle might I remind you, she was mentioning a few names. Naru, Kitsune, Mokoto, Shinobu, Haruka, and Keitaro."

"Keitaro? What else did you hear about this?"

"Nothing much, just names."

"Hmm… those names though, they all sound like female names."

"I would hope so. A guy named Naru would be strange."

"Shh, I hear something, let's hide." Kanako opened up the windowed and jumped out, hiding her back against the wall.

"Su-chan, why did you do this? Look at this mess…"

"Sowwie but I saw a funny looking cat, I thought it was a demon cat sent to take my inventions away."

"Auu… sempai will be mad when he comes home."

"Sure he won't mind that much. Su, since you made this mess you have to clean it up, leave the huge hole up there for Keitaro to fix."

"Haiiii"

_Interesting… they seem to not care for oniichan at all. Except that 'auu' girl. _"Kuro, let's find Haruka quick, we'll inform her with all the information that we've got."

"Okay… but first…"

"Huh?"

"Where's my tuna?"

-/-/-/-/-/

"**HUFF PUFF HUFF**"Keitaro was loosing his breath running to the Kyoto Tower, but he was almost there. _I'm a little early but that should be a good thing. _He dashed in between 2 guys nimbly and kept on running. Soon enough he made it to the tower and spotted Seta speaking with a business man. _Hey, isn't that Zero-san?_

"Zero-san, I can count on you right?"

"You always can. Consider your flight booked." Zero bowed and walked away just when Keitaro made his way beside Seta.

"Ah! Keitaro! You're early, I like that."

"Heh." Keitaro looked at Zero, he was carrying a couple of folders under his hand. "You know Zero-san?"

"Yup. He's a friend of mine that goes way back. I just talked to him and he's hooking me up with a huge discount on a flight to one of the ruins I'm going to."

"Really? How big of a discount?"

"90 off"

"Whoa… you gatta be kidding me."

"Hah, nope! That Zero-san has got some crazy connections."

"By the way, what ruins are you talking about?"

"Some kind of turtle civilization off on an island."

"Turtle civilization? That's the first I've heard of something like that."

"Well it's not known by a lot of people. I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't." Seta scratched his cheek. He was looking for a different subject to talk about and of course he had completely forgotten why he wanted Keitaro to be there.

"Umm… Seta-san?"

"Ara?"

"Shouldn't we be getting to work or something? This is fun doing nothing and all but that's not what I came here to do."

"Oh ya! How can I forget! I just have a simple task for you that's all."

"Okay…"

Keitaro followed Seta up until they got to his van which was parked across two parking areas. "You remember those earthenware ware artefacts that I had in my van last time?"

"Yeah." _I see where this is going. They're going to be all broken and I'll have to fix them. Ugh, how troublesome._

**Swhoop!**

Seta opened up the side-door of his van. "They're all still in one piece! Cool huh?!"

_DWAH! What the heck?_

"You're job is to neatly pack these up safely into separate boxes that are lined with bubble wrap while I drive to the delivery point okay?" Seta jumped into the driver seat and started the car. Keitaro jumped into the van and closed the door.

"Let's get started then." And so they were off.

1 minute later…

"Umm… Seta-san…?" Keitaro nervously asked.

"Hmm? What is it?" Seta didn't turn around and kept his eyes on the road… rather though he was keeping his eyes on a stop sign that was wedged right into his windshield wiper.

"W-why is there a little girl in here…?" Keitaro was being given the evil eye up close by a little blond girl dressed in overalls with a red cap with the beak turned back. She didn't alter her stare at all and it really crept out Keitaro. He was still trying to concentrate on packaging the artefacts though. _Just don't give her any eye contact Keitaro, just don't make eye contact!_

"Oh her? That's Sarah, a relative of mine. Don't worry, she's harmless, just continue on with your work."

"A-as you say." Keitaro kept his eyes off of Sarah, trying to do his job. He set five plates into a box and sealed it safely, but his eyes were drawn to the Sarah girl. She was smiling at Keitaro happily, holding an earthenware cup with her fingers with only two fingers. _She wouldn't… would she?_

"Hee hee." She let go of the cup.

Keitaro however was fast enough to catch it before it was close to crashing into the ground. But he used to much force in grabbing the cup. It cracked all over his hands. "…"

"Nice going there you dork."

"Keitaro? What was that sound?"

"…I broke one of the cups… sorry, I'll pay for it."

"Oh? You don't need to worry, my client is used to getting broken earthenware from me, hahaha!" _Although the pay sometimes gets lowered but oh well, I'm not in this for the money!_ "Just get as much done as you can and that'll be okay."

Keitaro was happy with his words and continued to work under the evil eyes of the Sarah girl. Keitaro didn't say anything to her and she didn't bother breaking any other things. She didn't feel like wasting any of her time on this part-time worker.

40 minutes after they arrived at their destination; the Kyoto National Museum. Keitaro was able to pack every single one of the earthenware without damaging any of them. He even packed away the broken cup. Keitaro looked at Sarah with an annoyed stare.

"What are you looking at dork?"

"… A child."

"What?"

Seta stopped the van. "Alright we're here! Now Keitaro let's unpack all of this in the museum!" He jumped out of his seat, opened the side doors and grabbed several boxes. He just as quickly dashed for the doors of the museum.

"Whoa, he's got some stamina." Keitaro awed and was quite impressed. He himself grabbed about three boxes and …

"Yeah…" Sarah put out her foot and Keitaro tripped over her, crashing onto the boxes. "Hah, what a dork."

_Grr, why… this girl!_ He suppressed his anger as best as he could. He didn't want a little kid like her to get the best of him. He grabbed the boxes again and followed Seta. They both continued to do this until everything was unloaded from the van into the museum.

"Well that was nice and quick if I do say so myself!"

"It would've been faster if you got someone better than this guy though."

"Hey!"

"Now now Sarah, Keitaro is very reliable. I don't know anyone better than him to help me."

"Heh." _That'll so you kid. Seta's not gonna can me just because you say so, haha._

"…Ara…? Oh my! Oh no!" Seta looked through his van frantically. "I must've left it back at the Kyoto Tower!!!"

"Seta-san?"

"Look I'm gonna have to go back to the tower, you two just wait for me here. Go around the museum or something! This is really important and I have to speed for this one!" Seta jumped into his car.

"B-but! Papa! You can't leave me with this idiot!"

"Just endure for a little bit Sarah! And don't call me papa I said!" Seta sighed then looked at Keitaro. "Make sure she doesn't cause any trouble okay?"

_OH MY GOSH ARE YOU CRAZY?!?!?! I CAN TELL THIS GIRL IS A HYPERACTIVE PSYCHO!!! DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!!! _"I will."

**Zooooooom!**

And just like that, Seta was gone.

"So." _Why did I have to be left alone with this brat?_

_Why did I have to be left alone with this dork? _

"What do you wanna do before your… err… papa comes back?"

"How about I wait here for papa while you go die in a ditch? Doesn't that sound like fun?"

"Psh, whatever you say. I'm going into the museum." He shrugged off her hostility and walked into the museum. He knew that she was following him the whole time. _I knew it… she's no different than her. This should be fun._ Keitaro paid the admission fee of 500 yen and walked down the ceramics section of the museum. He would hear the little footsteps of Sarah behind him. He wanted to make sure that she didn't know that he knew she was following him. Keitaro jogged down the halls and turned around the corner then hid behind a pillar that held a large ceramic plate on it. Keitaro watched Sarah run passed him.

"Huh? Where did he go?"

Keitaro silently stepped behind her and slowly moved his head beside her ear. "Boo."

"Uwaaaaahh!" She jumped forward and slipped on the ground onto her butt. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"I thought you wanted me to die in a ditch. Why did you follow me?"

"I'm just keeping an eye on you so you won't steal from here."

"…"

"You got a problem with that?"

"Fine, do whatever you want. It's not like I'm your father."

"Yeah! That's right! You're not!" Sarah tried to get up but something was wrong. _…I sprained my ankle._

"Sigh" Keitaro grabbed Sarah by her arms and lifted her off the ground.

"H-hey! What are you doing?!"

"Just helping you up, chill out…" Keitaro plopped her down on her feet but noticed her wince when he did that. "Are you hurt?"

"No okay? I'm fine."

"… Liar." Keitaro picked her up and rested her on his back into a piggyback.

"Hey! What the hell!"

"Look, just stop that okay? You're hurt and you don't want to make it worse so just live with it. I don't see what the problem is." Keitaro waited for her to yell back at him. But she was quite. "It's Seta-san isn't it? You don't like me because I'm working for him?" She was still quite. "So it is…"

"Shut up…"

"Hah!"

"What's so funny?!"

"You're just like her…it's pretty funny."

"Like who?!"

"My sister…" Keitaro walked down the halls and observed the beautiful artworks. "You see for as long as I can remember me and my sister have been really close. She always got angry with me whenever I'd hang around other girls, or even guys, it was as if she wanted me all to herself. It was very childish of her. However though when she got to know the friends I had she finally accepted them and realized that none of them could ever truly take me away from her. Because you know why?"

"…Why?"

"I'll always be her brother."

-/-/-/-/-/

"And that's it Haruka."

"Kanako… that's quite a story to swallow. Are you sure of what you saw?"

"Of course I am… there's no doubt about it."

"…" Haruka took a long drag of her cigarette. "Well… it's not my problem; you can do whatever you want. But please keep in mind of Keitaro's feelings. I really don't want Keitaro to get hurt. But… I do agree with you that he has to know about this."

"Thank you, I'm glad that you agree with me."

"Hmm. Well since you're here I should introduce you to everyone. You're going to be living here now isn't that right?"

"That's correct. And I have to say that I'm not so sure these girls should be living here with oniichan. They don't seem to care for him much."

"Well it seems that way…" She smiled. "But they'll warm up to him."

-/-/-/-/-/

Once Keitaro and Sarah were finished looking throughout the museum quickly they waited outside for Seta. He was expected to arrive very soon; they've been waiting for nearly half an hour now. Sarah was standing up by herself as well, she seemed to have recovered quickly from that little sprain.

"So, tell me more about your sister, Kanako, was it?"

"Yeah, that's her name. Well what is there to tell? What do you wanna know?"

"Hmm… how do you feel about her?"

"Heh. I don't know, I definitely love her if that's what you're asking. She's someone who I believe I can tell and share anything with. I sometimes wondered what would happen if she wasn't with me."

"Love?"

"You know, brotherly love."

"Ah, just like how I love papa."

"Yeah, it's quite the same."

"But I'm sure I love my papa more than you love your sister so ha!"

"Why you…!"

"Look! There he is!" Sarah pointed out into the distance and saw Seta's van. He was still going really fast and didn't look like he was going to stop at all. Sarah ran away leaving Keitaro to gawk at the van. He didn't budge though.

**Vrooom! Schrrreeeeeeeeeeech!**

It was good for him not to move because Seta spun out of controls and tipped over its side flying right over Keitaro and landing right beside Sarah on all four wheels. She almost had a heart attack. "cough cough Wow! I landed properly!" Seta coughed as he stepped out of his van with blooding running down his face.

"Umm… Seta-san?"

"Papa! You're bleeding!"

"Blood? Oh my, I thought that was that tomato I was snacking on." Seta smiled and wiped off the skin of a tomato off his head and the so called blood. It really was a tomato he so happened to be eating. Keitaro and Sarah didn't know what to say to that. "Sorry to make you to wait. We should be going now."

"Huh? But what about that thing you left at the Kyoto Tower?"

"Oh that? Heh… heh…" Seta pulled out rubble from his pocket. "The gold coins I had back there happened to just be rusted over pieces of metal, silly me."

"…Papa, sometimes you're an idiot."

"Ah, sorry, sorry Sarah."

"Hah!" _That's daughterly love for you. _"So Seta, could you drop me off at the train station since we're done here?"

"Of course I will. Let's go, I think the police didn't give up on their pursuit yet."

"What?"

"Never mind! Hurry hurry!" Seta threw both of them into his van in quite a hurry and drove off from 0-60mph in 1 second! Though that is impossible Seta was just that amazing! As they left the police had stopped at their location and begun a search around the area.

"Seta-san could you just slow down a bit?" Keitaro sounded very scared.

"Y-yes p-papa, please slow down!"

"Haha! As you wish!" Seta was overly happy. A little overly happy after finding out his cold coins were nothing but rusted metal. Seta had slammed on the breaks and the van skidded to a stop right into a stop sign. Keitaro fell over and landed right on Sarah, squishing her.

"Ugh! Can't breathe! Get off of me you dork!"

"Oops."

"Well we're here!"

"Huh?" Keitaro gasped and realised they were actually at the train station already. "B-but how? We were just, I mean, what?"

"Hurry hurry now! I have to get going before they catch up!"

"Before who-?" Sarah opened up the door and happily pushed Keitaro out and flat on his face. "HEY! What was that for?!"

"See ya later dork!"

"I'm sorry Keitaro but I'm in a big hurry, I'll contact you later in about three days. I've already sent your pay at Hinata Sou."

"Oh, t-thanks."

"Ara?" Seta looked at his rear view mirrors. _They caught up faster than I thought. _"Oh well, later Keitaro."

"La-"

**Zoooooooooom!**

"…ter…?" Keitaro noticed once Seta zoomed away, several police cars were chasing him. _Did I get employed by criminal? _He slumped his shoulders and sighed. "Please don't get caught Seta-san, you're my only means for income." _Today's been a long time, I can't wait to get back home and just relax._ Keitaro went and purchased his ticket and waited for the train to arrive. To his surprise Motoko stood right beside him. "You're still here?"

"Yes…"

"You were waiting for me?"

"What makes you think that?"

"…" _Right then._ "Never mind. Just good to see you safe."

"Likewise." She whispered.

"What was that?"

"I said 'shut up.'"

"Yeah, that's what I thought too."

-/-/-/-/-/

Motoko and Keitaro were nearly home, all they had to do now was walk up the steps to Hinata Sou. The day was finally coming to an end and both of these people were relieved that it had finally passed. Motoko stopped, they were half way up the steps. Keitaro paused and looked back at her.

"Motoko?"

"I was to take over the family dojo. It was my duty to take it over when my sister was to step down. I didn't want to take it over though, that meant I have to leave Hinata Sou." She looked down at her feet. "My sister counted on me to take over… but I just couldn't I wasn't ready at all. How could I have such a burden but on me?"

"…"

"That's why I did this Urashima. If I were to get married then I wouldn't have to take over. I really wanted to tell you this but I was just so nervous. I didn't know what you'd say so I had to do this. I want to say thank you again… and that I'm sorry. And if there's anything I can do for you, just tell me and I'll do it… you have my word. I am in your dept."

"Motoko…" _I've never seen this side of her. I'm happy that she has shown me this side of her. There's nothing I can ask of her… except._ "I've got it."

"Hmm?"

"Could you please… call me Keitaro from now on?"

"…"

"…"

"Is that really all you want?"

"Of course. I can't ask for anything else but this."

"Understood… Keitaro."

So now they walked side by side the rest of the way up. They looked happy together. It looked like they were a happy couple coming home from a date. Of course none of them thought about it that way, but it sure did look like it. The mood though changed when they reached the top.

"Kanako-chan?" Keitaro gasped. There stood his sister with the rest of the girls behind her. She ran up to him, jumping into an embrace, wrapping her arms around his back.

"Oniichan… I missed you."

"Oniichan? She's your sister?" Motoko was surprised.

"Yes. This is my little sister, Kanako-chan."

"Oniichan, I have to talk to you. It's really important. Could we please go to your room?"

"S-sure, but can't this wait a little bit? I'm really tired right now."

"Yes, sempai you must be exhausted. I'll cook you something."

"You don't seem to understand. This CAN'T wait." Kanako was very serious.

"Kanako, you can't do this, not yet." Naru said in the same serious tone.

"Geez, you're really going through with this?" Kitsune sighed.

"Huh? Is something going on that I don't know? What's this all about Kanako-chan?"

"…It's about…" She let go of him. "Yukari."

Keitaro and Kanako found themselves in his room sitting silently alone. The atmosphere of the room was too much for Keitaro but he waited patiently. Kanako was being quite, looking for the correct words to say.

"You see a few days ago I was actually trying to find Yukari. You remember that time I phoned you?"

"Yeah…"

"Well near the end of our conversation I located her. I was curious so I followed her. I followed her for quite a long time and soon she met up with this guy I never saw before."

"A guy?"

"Yeah. As I progressed with this I found out his name is Jirou, though I couldn't find out his last name. I thought for the worse at this point, I thought she was cheating on you, that she left you for this guy. I wasn't so sure though, I had to find out more." _Is this really the right thing to do?_ "I secretly observed them and found out they are actually living together in an apartment. The thing is that I noticed their relationship was quite… intimate."

"Intimate? As in, their holding hands and hugging?"

"No, they were kissing."

"…" Keitaro is speechless.

"At the point I didn't want to see anymore and that was it for the day. But my curiosity wasn't satisfied at all. I needed to find out the truth. So the next day I went out in a disguise, I was dressed as an elderly lady. I followed them to a café outside. They sat together and talked happily. When Jirou went to the bathroom and left Yukari alone, I took my chance. I walked up to her and said 'My my, what a nice young man.' She replied to me 'Yeah he is.' I pressed on 'Do you love that man? I'm sure that he loves you.' She was taken back by my words and paused, but eventually she answered me 'With all of my heart.'"

"I can't be."

"Then I asked 'Is that man the only one in your heart? You love no one else is that right? You would never betray the one you love, right?'"

"No… don't tell me."

"She simply answered me… 'Yes.' I'm sorry Oniichan… but she has lied… and has betrayed your love. I'm sorry."

And that's when his whole world came crashing down.

His life… would never be the same.

**End Chapter 5: Shattered Hope**

_Zero Eiyuu: What better time to submit another chapter than when it's almost Christmas right? Yeah I'm an idiot, I meant to submit this about two weeks ago but I kind of lagged behind. Every time I was working on this I'd move on to working on my business plan which is coming along pretty nicely._

_I've always been reading everyone's reviews. And I'm happy that you all are very interested in this story. And after reading the reviews I kind of noticed my story is leaning towards a Motoko/Keitaro fic... that's a problem, I hadn't even noticed this, hah, and i'm the writer!_

_As you have noticed… I suck big time with sound effects eh? Haha…! …Yeah…_

_So yeah, Sarah MacDougal has been introduced to the story and next chapter another character will be introduced. But that character won't be known to those who've only read the Love Hina manga; this character is from the anime series and is one of my favourite characters. So yeah, heh, can't wait._

_As you have probably noticed I tried to change my writing stlye a little bit, I noticed that the story was a bit TOO serious and tense so... yeah, this was my sad attempt to try and lighten to mood and try to get some humour into the story. I don't know if it was successful or not but I tried._

_Sorry on how slowly I'm updating but the main reason why I'm taking so long is because of the following reasons._

_Playing too much games_

_Watching too much anime_

_Playing too much games_

_Reading too much manga_

_Playing too much games_

_Working on school projects_

_And of course…_

_Playing too much games_

_Yuuup! So anyway though I really hope you liked this chapter, in my opinion I really thought this chapter ran well together, I didn't think it was as boring as the other chapters and wow! What a bombshell for Keitaro eh? Well we'll have to see how things end up next chapter…_

_Next Chapter_

**Chapter 6: The Changed Man**

"Kei-kun…? What's wrong? Why do you look so sad?"

"You wouldn't understand… no one would understand. I'm sorry but could you just leave me alone?"

"I'm sorry Kei-kun but I cannot just leave you like this. It's hurts to much to see you sad."

" I SAID JUST LEAVE ME ALONE! Please just leave me alone, I don't want to talk to anyone… not even you…"

"Kei-kun…"

"Not even those who care about me. Just why… why has this happened to me?"

_Was I destined to be unhappy?_


	7. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Love Hina… I do however own the Love Hina DVDs! But when I mean own I mean that I bought the DVDs and don't literally own the company that made them!

_Zero Eiyuu: And so the one known as 'Zero Eiyuu' has returned and… look! I've brought a new chapter! Before the story starts I would like the thank _Tiax Anderson_ for proof reading this story for me, he has helped me a lot and pointed out… several mistakes that when I look back I gatta say WTH to it! So once again, thank you _Tiax Anderson

_Now let's get this story underway! Oh yeah! Happy Valentine's Day people! Now enjoy!_

**Love Hina: The Path of Love**

**Chapter 6: The Changed Man**

"I can't believe that I'm hearing this. This can't be true, you must be lying Kanako!" Keitaro thrusts forward and grabbed Kanako's shoulders angrily with desperation in his eyes. "Please tell me that you're lying!"

Kanako turned away; she couldn't look at her brother like this. "Onii-chan please…" She looked at his hands on her shoulders; the pain of his grip was starting to get to her. Keitaro though, couldn't realize this fact. "You're hurting me."

"Tell me that you're lying right now!!!" He yelled out furiously. He clenched his teeth together, further tightening his grip on her _This is all just a joke! One big sick joke!_

Kanako slowly met eyes with Keitaro. Fear was in her eyes. "I'm sorry Onii-chan, but it's the truth. I'd never lie to you… You know that already."

It was hard for Keitaro to take, but one look from Kanako and he could tell one thing… she was definitely telling him the truth. He let go of her letting his arms drop to his sides. "I can't believe this is happening. Why does this have to happen to me?" Keitaro gritted his teeth and walked over to the step that he used to get up to Naru's room. "WHY!!! DOES IT HAVE TO HAPPEN TO ME?!?!" In his rage he spun and threw the step right outside into the trees.

"O-onii-chan! Please calm yourself down!" She stood up walking to him.

"Dammit!" He fell to his knees and punched the ground with his fist. "Why… why Yukari…?"

"I'm, sorry to say this." Kanako took a deep breath and kneeled down beside him. "But… she just doesn't love you. In turn, she doesn't deserve you either onii-chan."

_She doesn't love you. _"Heh…" _She doesn't love you. _"Heh heh…" _She doesn't love you. _"Heh heh heh, hahahaha!"

"Onii-chan?"

"She doesn't love me, heh, it all makes sense. She doesn't love me, that's all!" _She doesn't love you, She doesn't love you, she doesn't love you._ "I can see now! I see the truth! She doesn't love me, right Kanako?" Keitaro grabbed onto her shoulders again, but this time he was gentle. He calmly looked into her eyes… Kanako was scared. "Right from the very start, this is how she has always felt. Isn't that right?"

_Why is he acting like this?_ She could only respond with a slow nod. She was blushing too because his face was so close to hers, she could feel his warm breath on her lips.

"Why… just why had this happened to me? Was I destined to be alone… was I Kanako?" Keitaro waited for Kanako to say something. She didn't want to talk though; she was scared out of her wits. "Kanako… would you please leave my room… I want to be alone right now." She answers him again with a slight nod and left the room. Giving one glance back at her brother looking off into space.

"I can't believe you actually told him." Haruka softly said when Kanako closed the door. All around the area everyone stood, they all were listening on their conversation out of concern.

"Who knows what he's going to do now. Nice going there!" Naru said in a pissed off tone. She wasn't too happy and would have preferred they kept this a secret from Keitaro. _Keitaro's too much of a nice guy, he doesn't need this on his shoulders._

"You know, anyone of you could've easily have come in and stopped me. But you didn't, so that's not my fault." Kanako hit a good point; no one could say anything back to that. "Look, I didn't want to tell him just as much as the rest of you. But no matter what, he had to know. He would've found out sooner or later and it's best that I had broken the news to him. I'm his sister after all."

"Aren't you actually his adopted sister?"

"What does it matter?! No matter what I still love and care for him." Kanako was getting irritated, especially since it was Naru who made that comment.

"We all care about him okay? The same goes for us; we're really worried about him. I'm really worried how he's going to react." Kitsune leaned against the wall beside the door. "I really got a bad feeling about this."

"Auu… what's going to happen to sempai? He sounded… strange when he was talking to you Kanako-san."

"I don't know bu-"

"AAAAAAAARGH!" Keitaro shouted out from his room, shocking all the girls into taking a step away from his room. "WHY!!!" That was followed by him striking that ground with a hard punch, large cracking noises were heard. "WHY WHY WHY!?" Each time he'd strike the ground over and over. The girls were scared…

"I don't like this. We should get out of here and let him calm down. Come Shinobu-chan, Su-chan." Motoko urged them to follow her. They were smart to follow her. Naru, Kanako, Kitsune, and Haruka stayed though. _Keitaro…_

"Okay I'll goes with you Motoko! But we gatsta play okay?"

"Right right…"

"Wait, why are we going?"

"Look, Keitaro needs to be alone. And I fear what he may do in his… angered state right now. It's best for all of us." Soon the other four followed Motoko. _Good, they followed my lead._

**SLAM!**

Keitaro had slammed the door opened. A jolt of shock shot through the girls and they all turned to see Keitaro walk out. His hair covered his eyes when he kept his head down. He had put his jacket on. He shot a glare at all of the girls. "I'm going out." He turned away from them and headed for the stairs. Each of the girls wanted to call out to him and grab him but all of them were too scared on how he may act. Who knows what he was going to do if someone tried to even look at him.

"Sempai…" Shinobu walked to Keitaro's room and looked in. She was dumbfounded at the scene she saw. His room was completely trashed with everything all over the place. The sounds they were hearing was Keitaro punching the floor in the same spot. Keitaro had punched a large hole right through his floor.

-/-/-/-/-/

_Somehow deep in my heart I knew this was the case. Maybe I just needed someone to tell me this to make me realize that my worst nightmares were true._ Keitaro stormed down the steps of Hinata Sou. _The question is… what do I do now? I just lost what I thought was the love of my life. Is… is my life even worth living anymore? _Keitaro stopped at the bottom. "No, I can't think like that. I must move on past this, I'm strong enough to do this.

_But you know… this is a wound that won't heal…_

_That's true, but I could always… just forget. Forget this whole thing with Yukari has ever happened. Forget that awful tragedy in my life._

_But will that even work?_

_Who knows… we'll have to find out._

He continued walking aimlessly thinking… just thinking. His heart was torn and he had a possible answer to his anguish, but all in all he didn't know what to do anymore. In his whole life, this was indeed his worst incident.

Keitaro walked alone for a couple of hours pondering what to do. He had taken a train a one time and soon he was looking up at the place of his past dreams, Tokyo University.

_Could this place help me forget? If I meet that girl again and fulfill my promise to her, will I be happy?_

_I don't know... that's a path you must travel to find out. But like life itself, there are many paths to travel; this is just one of them. Others may be more suited for you. But remember that all paths get a little hazy when traveled; you never know what's up ahead._

_True._

'_What path should you follow?' Is the question though. What is your answer?_

…

…

…

_I see…_

"Kei-kun…?"

_That's strange; I think I just heard a very familiar voice call out to me._

"Kei-kun!"

Keitaro turned behind him and come face to face with his good friend Mutsumi. She was quite close so he jerked back. "Mutsumi…" Often he would be happy and beaming when he was with Mutsumi, but in this case it was different. "What are you doing here?" He asked her coldly, giving a feeling in his tone that he didn't want her here. She didn't look too effected at that though.

"Just enjoying the view that's all. We'll be going here together after all. It's so exciting."

"Hmph, that's only if we pass."

Mutsumi looked shocked. "Oh Kei-kun you mustn't think like that! You can't think so negatively. Oh course we'll pass, Shirai and Haitani too, we'll all be there studying together."

"Holy… you're way too optimistic you know that? I'm getting real sick of it." From the look Keitaro was giving it didn't look like he cared for anyone's feelings. Truth was that he wasn't really paying much attention; it was like he was in his own world. But what he had just said registered in his mind.

"…Kei-kun… what's the matter? You never talk to me like this… your words… hurt me." She inched closer to him, but in reaction Keitaro turned his back to her and clenched his fists looking down. Not satisfied she stood in front of him and held his shoulders so he wouldn't turn his back to her again. He showed no resistance. "Ara?"

"M-Mutsumi… I-I'm sorry…" Tears flowed down from his closed eyes. He tried his best to hide his tears from her but it proved to be futile.

"Kei-kun…"

"I…I…"

"There there Kei-kun."

"!!!"

Mutsumi brought him in close and pushed his face into her chest and embraced him, resting her chin on his head. The wind blew across the two as time seemed to stand still for that one single moment. To them… it did.

"Kei-kun, remember this okay?"

"…"

"No matter what happens, no matter where you are, no matter where I am, I'll always be there for you. You and I are friends, please remember this. I care for you Kei-kun and it brings me grave sorrow to see you sad at times like this." She tightened her hold on the embrace. Keitaro… he was able to embrace her back.

-/-/-/-/-/

**JOLT!**

"Eek!" Naru shrieked and shivered after. Kitsune raised her eyebrow to her from Naru's bed. "That was weird."

"What was?"

"My 'pervert senses' are tingling." _I suddenly felt that I had to give Keitaro one of my Naru Punches._

"And that means…?"

"Never mind. Why are you even in my room anyway?"

"Cause Motoko, Su, and Shinobu decided to play in my room. Don't know why they did that, they could've just as easily played in Su's room."

"And you had to come here?"

"Well Kanako and Haruka are at the teashop talking again so the obvious choice was to come to you." Naru leered at her. "Hey, I don't wanna be alone right now, kay?"

"Whatever."

"Lets get back on the subject on our little runaway." Naru sat down at her Kotatsu.

"What is there to talk about? He left and he'll be back soon."

"How are you sure about that?"

"I just am okay?!"

Kitsune sighed and fell back onto Naru's bed and stretched. "Whatever…" A thought had just crossed her mind. "Hey… you ever wonder what this Yukari girl is like? I mean, she's gatta be real important to Keitaro for him to react like that."

"I don't know and I don't care. She's a girl who I hope I never meet… to be so cruel to such a good person."

"Did I just hear that right?!" Kitsune shot up.

Naru was taken back. "W-what?"

_It may just be my imagination but…_ "How do you feel about Keitaro? And be honest Naru, I know you best!"

"Where the heck did THAT come from?!" _What does she think she's doing? Whatever it is I'm not falling for it._

"C'mon Naru just tell me. What do you think of Keitaro? It's a simple question, no harm." _Of course I'm lying._

"W-w-w-w-w-well I don't know, that's a question I just can't answer."

Kitsune got to her feet and walked to Naru, resting her arm on her shoulders. "Naru, I'm your best friend, just tell me all ready. You do know that I'll find out sooner or later."

"…You're relentless…"

"Darn straight."

Naru took a deep breath then shoved away Kitsune to fall back on her bed. "I just think he's a good person okay! That's all! It's not like I LIKE him or something if that's what you're trying to find out!" Naru took another deep breath, she was frightened of the smirk that Kitsune gave that clearly was saying 'Yeah I got you in the palm of my minds.' "What about YOU! What do you think about him? How do you feel about?!"

"I think he's okay. A little uptight at times, good looking, has a really friendly atmosphere around, and is really gullible. I guess I kind of like him." _Com e on… Naru…. Come on…_

"You… like him?"

_Gotcha! _"Sure I do, what's not to like about him? I'd do him." She said that last comment with a smile.

"You'd… WHAT?!" She screamed at Kitsune from point blank nose to nose range.

"Whoa there Naru! I knew it… so you really do like Keitaro. That's just the reaction I needed from you." Kitsune giggled. "You're just so cute!"

"SHUT UP!" Naru ended their friendly chat with a great big shove to get Kitsune out of her room then slammed the door. Kitsune laughed evilly and walk away with a sense of triumph.

Meanwhile in Kitsune's room… or whatever was left of it. Su had just about completely trashed the place because in reality she was looking for Kitsune's secret stash of booze for her sake powered new weapon. She knew that she would have an endless supply if she located it. But she wasn't able to find it and she wouldn't ever, Kitsune was too good. Motoko and Shinobu watched with amusement but they both were still worried about Keitaro. Shinobu has busy trying to clean up the place but thanks to Su's incisive search she was having a hard time. Motoko however thought only of Keitaro and what to do.

_He helped me… I should help him. But I don't think going out to bring him back will help much._ Motoko pinched her forehead. _What should I do? I can't just ignore this._ "Hey you two, what do you think is going happen next? I'm in all over my head on this."

"I wish I knew Motoko-sempai. I only wish that sempai return home safely and soon. I miss him so much already." Shinobu crossed her arms and took a slow deep breath. "I hate to say it but, we can't do anything…but we have to find a way, for sempai…"

"Boo, I can't find them!" Su pouted and plopped down onto Kitsune's bed which Shinobu was able to clean and keep it that way. "Guuuuuys! I'm boooooored! Let's go look for Keitawo!"

"We wouldn't even know where to start Su. It's useless right now." Motoko sighed. "Even if all of us were to look, he could still be anywhere; he might not even be in this area anymore."

"Aww… come on, how about yous Shinobu? Don't ya want to play with Keitawo?"

"Auu, uhh, ano… I don't know if I want to _play_ but ano…" _Oh my gosh am I blushing?_

"Listen to me. We shouldn't look for him. He said so and we must respect his wishes and what he chose to do." Motoko clenched onto her sword. "And if the worst were to happen then we'd be informed on it right away. So there's no worry." She opened the door and left without closing it. "I'm going up on the roof to train."

Hours had past and Keitaro had still not returned. Everyone was getting even more worried where Keitaro might be. Kanako and Haruka never left the teashop since they started talking; they were still having the same conversation.

"3 hours and he still isn't back. This is serious."

"Is it?" Haruka sipped her tea.

"What do you mean?"

"You know when Keitaro was little and something bad would happen to him he always wanted to insolate himself from those he cared about. He didn't want to show his tears or his pain to others." Haruka smiled. "Even when a tragedy like this happens to him he thinks of others. What an idiot."

"Yes, I recall that."

"Are you worried about him Kanako?"

"I would be lying if I said I wasn't." She rested her chin on her hand. "But something tells me that he's just fine right now." The two women stayed quiet and drank their tea. "But it IS starting to get dark. He'll have to come back soon right?"

"Who knows. He may be at Haitani's or Shirai's place or maybe even booked in a motel somewhere. He's a big boy, he knows what to do."

"Well… I wish he'd come home in the morning then." _Was this really the right thing to do? But if I hadn't had told him he would've found out later and by that time it would break his heart even more. I can't allow that._ "Say, Haruka, are you worried about onii-chan?"

"Me? Worry about Keitaro?" She smirked. "All the time."

It was now night, around 11:30PM. There was still no sign of Keitaro. Motoko trained on the roof up until an hour ago, she retired off to bed and dozed off worried. Shinobu went to sleep around the same time as Motoko as well, not before making a snack for Keitaro on the kitchen table in case he'd come home late at night. Kanako and Haruka waited patiently still, both not showing any signs of sleepiness. Naru and Kitsune both met back up in Naru's room. Kitsune didn't bring up the conversation from previously due to the fact she knew that Naru would tear off her head if she did.

"So the plans still going on?" Kitsune asked.

"Of course, I can't let something like this ruin this arrival. We'll get everything ready in the morning around 5:30AM and I'll go get her from the train station. In the meantime you should inform everyone of her and get everyone in the mood."

"Err… that's going to be hard with the whole Keitaro thing…"

"Don't worry." Naru grabbed Kitsune's shoulders. "I believe in you, you can do it! Even if you have to get them drunk as heck! I want her to be happy when she gets here, okay?"

"Gotcha. I have to say that I'm glad you've changed your mood from last time."

"Me too, now that I think of it." _I can't think of Keitaro right now. This is important too; I can't get distracted by him._

"We'll give her a heck of a time when she gets here." _Naru…_

No one had a pleasant sleep or dream that day. Who could have, too many bad things had happened. And the thing was… Keitaro never went back to Hinata Sou that night.

The time is now 6:00AM, morning had broke and the sun shined through pink curtains and onto Keitaro's face.

"Huh…?" Keitaro blinked and stared up at an unfamiliar ceiling. _Where am I? What is this place?_ Keitaro sat up from the bed, his clothes were set neatly folded off to the side on a chair right beside the bed. _If my clothes are there then…_ Yeah, he was naked. He bunched up the blanket against his body and looked around the room, no one was around him. Keitaro stood up still wrapped by the blanket and locked the door so no one would come in while he changed. He was able to get one pant leg on before he heard the door jiggle.

"Ara? Why is the door locked?"

_M-Mutsumi?_

"It's a good thing I had this key with me."

_Oh dear God no!_

**CLICK… CREEEEAK**

"Wait Mutsumi!"

**SLAM!**

Keitaro slammed his back against the door to keep it closed. "Ara? Ah good you're awake Kei-kun! But why did you slam the door on me?"

"W-w-w-w-well that's because I'm naked! Lemme change first!"

"Ara, as you wish Kei-kun. Come out when you're ready okay? I'll be waiting"

_That girl sometimes…_ He sighed while putting his clothes on. "Still though, how did I get here?" Keitaro opened his door.

"Ohayo gozaimasu, Kei-kun." Mutsumi was standing out there the whole time.

"W-whoa!" Keitaro stumbled back. "Mutsumi! Don't scare me like that!"

"Ara?" Keitaro looked up and down her body, she changed when he last saw her, she was dressed in green turtle neck sweater and a long black velvety dress which went down to her knees. He couldn't look away from her beautiful figure. Mutsumi tilted her head. "Is something the matter?"

"HUH?! AH! N-no! Nothing's wrong Mutsumi, nothing at all, ahaha…haha…" Keitaro stepped out and followed her through the small building and through the doorway into a kitchen.

"Want a little snack Kei-kun?"

"Umm, sure. I could go for one."

"Hai, please have a seat." Keitaro took his seat at the table and waited. By the time he sat down Mutsumi had put a slice of watermelon before him. She then sat across from him, since the table was so small they were still close.

"…Why a watermelon?"

"Ara? You don't like watermelons?"

"No… no… it's just kind of strange, but that's you in a nutshell."

"Ara ara…"

"By the way Mutsumi…" He grabbed the slice of watermelon. "This is your place right?"

"No Kei-kun, I broke into someone else's apartment and locked them out." Mutsumi said it so seriously but smiled after. "Of course it's my place. I had to get my own place to live if I wanted to go to Tokyo University here."

"Well that makes sense. But how did I get here?"

"You don't remember?"

"No, not at all. It's all a blur right now."

"Well okay. Remember we ran into each other in front of Tokyo University. We had a little chat and I held you in my arms when you started crying."

_Crying?_

"After awhile you were done and didn't say much. If I had left you alone you would've stayed there like a statue all day. So I suggested we go to my place. You nodded to that. So I took you to my place and put you in the extra bedroom I had. Of course your clothes were filthy so I had to clean them."

"Kyah! You what?!"

"Oh don't worry Kei-kun. We're both big girls and boys. Though Kei-kun is quite amazing…"

"Gah…" Keitaro's face went red right away. "W-well thanks." He took a bite out of his snack and thought for a moment." It's odd though, why did I cry?"

"I don't know but I'm just guessing but I might've been about Yukari."

"Yukari…"

"…Kei-kun? What's the matter?"

"Who's Yukari? I never heard of her."

"Ara, Kei-kun?"

"What? I've never heard if her before, she a friend of yours?"

Mutsumi got up and felt his forehead. _Is Kei-kun broken? _"You seem okay."

"Come on, cut that out." He gently grabbed her hand… but he didn't let go. He looked happy.

"Ara? Can I please have my hand back?" Keitaro's face flushed red when he let go. "Hee, thank you."

"S-sorry."

"Ara, it's no problem. But still… something is wrong with you Kei-kun. Do you even remember your wedding?"

"My wedding? I remember going to one, but it certainly wasn't mine."

"I see…" _How did he forget? This is odd… But I guess this would be a good thing though. If this is the case then it would be best not to make him remember._

Keitaro finished off his snack and threw it away in a garbage bin nearby. "Well anyway thank you for the snack Mutsumi but I should really be getting back to Hinata Sou."

"So soon?"

"Well ya, I didn't go back yesterday so they must be worried sick about me."

"Can I come too?"

"If you'd like to, but why?"

"It's just been so long since I've been there. I'd love to see Hinata Sou again."

"Then let's head out."

A few minutes later the two boarded their train that was headed for Hinata City. They took their seats and Mutsumi had fallen asleep… or more correctly she fainted onto Keitaro's shoulder. She shuffled her body towards him and rested her body against him, her chest pushed up against his arm. Blood rushed up to his head that moment.

_Calm down Keitaro! You never reacted like this before! Come on she kissed you before! So settle down before you get a nose bleed! _Without realizing it he put his arm around the back of her neck and rested his hand on her shoulder. _We look like a couple like this… a couple? Just like before… what did I forget?_

"…Mhmm! Liddu-kun watch out…! Zzz." Keitaro chuckled at her cuteness.

"Must be having an exciting dream there."

"Could you please just leave me alone?" Keitaro looked around for the small voice that sounded scared. Not that far away down the aisle he saw a little auburn haired girl sitting down holding a big suitcase on her lap. She's dressed in a white dress shirt and a blue skirt down to her knees. Two much older men, about the same age as Keitaro, stood around her. One of them held a big sports bag over his shoulder.

_I don't like the looks of those two._

"C'mon, just tell us your name. It's not like we're gonna hurt you or anything."

"Yeah Come on cutie!"

She looked nervous, she didn't want to tell them her name but she wanted to get rid of them. "…Mei."

"Mei-chan huh? That's a cute name, how old are ya?"

"How rude! You shouldn't ask a girl her age so bluntly like that!" From the looks of her Keitaro guessed her to be around 12 or so. "I already told you my name now please leave." She tried to sound tough but she let out a tone of complete fear. And the two men took notice of this.

"Okay okay, let's go Akira."

"Yeah yeah Kai. See ya later Mei-chan." He winked at her and the two walked away to a different cart.

Both Mei and Keitaro sighed with relief when they left. Mei sat down lazily sliding down in her seat to relax. She too looked around and noticed that Keitaro was looking at her. He quickly looked away though. _Glad she handled that well. I'd hate to have to beat up a couple of guys in front of Mutsumi._ "Hey Mutsumi… Mutsumi." Keitaro nudged her lightly to try and wake her, she opened one eye. "We're almost there, wake up."

"Mmm… okay Kei-kun… just give me a sec—Zzzzzzz"

"Hey, don't fall asleep on me."

"…It's a promise…" Keitaro froze. "…We'll be together… it's a promise Kei-kun…"

An image suddenly flashed through his head for a split second, it hit him like a thousand needles in his head. He jumped up to his feet and fell to his knees grasping onto his head with both hands. "W-what's going on!?" The other passengers were freaked out and kept their distance away from him, Mutsumi had woken up and gone to his side.

"Kei-kun what's wrong!"

"I—I don't know! My head just suddenly hurts!" He stopped and looked at his hands. _What?_ "The pain is gone…"

"Thank goodness. We have to get to Hinata Sou and let you rest. You scared me there."

"S-sorry."

Mei listened carefully with interest. _Hinata Sou? That girl must live there, maybe I could follow them. She'll be so surprised!_

The train had stopped and the passengers hurried off to get away from Keitaro, but the two took their sweet time. As they walked on they hadn't noticed that Mei was following them from a good 15 meters away.

"Hey Key-kun, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Is there a lot of room at Hinata Sou?"

"Well I had a lot of time to explore the place and I would say so. It's too big a place for the six of us."

"Ara, really now?"

"Why'd you ask?"

"I'll ask you later." She smiled.

Back behind them Mei was hiding behind a pole to try and conceal herself. Of course if Mutsumi or Keitaro turned back they'd see her no problem. "I wish I had a map then I'd get their faster."

"Get where?"

"To Hinata Sou."

"Hinata Sou you say?"

"Yeah, it's this really…" Mei slowly turned around and saw the two men from before and backed into the pole. "W-w-w-what do you want?"

"EVERYTHING little lady."

"Quick, grab her before somebody sees." Akira forced his hand over her mouth before she could say something and dashed into a nearby alley. Mei dropped her suitcase and soon Kai followed.

Keitaro stopped in place and gritted his teeth. "Kei-kun? What's wrong?"

_I've got a bad feeling._ "Mutsumi, can you get to Hinata Sou from here?"

"Well yes, I remember the route correctly."

"Good, then please go, I forgot something."

"What did you-"

"Please just go, I'll catch up as soon as possible." Keitaro ran back and turned into the same alley that Mei was taken too after grabbing her suitcase. Mutsumi didn't see that and walked on curiously. Keitaro dashed through the alleys as fast as he could stumble through some trash but still keeping his ground. Far away he saw that Akira guy behind Mei holding onto her so she couldn't move while Kai was inching closer to her from the front.

"NOOO!!!"

"This is gonna be sweet. Yes, keep screaming like that, no one's gonna help you!"

"Leave her alone you sickos!" Keitaro went running for Kai. Kai didn't lose his cool though.

"Hah! Look at this guy, thinking he's a hero." Kai pulled out a long pocket knife. "Come and get some."

Keitaro dropped Mei's suitcase and pulled off his jacket, still holding it in his right hand. Kai lunged his knife at Keitaro. Keitaro wiped his jacket and wrapped it entirely around Kai's arm then came up close to knee him in the gut then flipping him onto his back. Keitaro stepped on his hand holding the knife and as he screamed in pain he let go of his knife.

"Psh, nice moves." Akira pushed Mei away into a pile of garbage. "But try and take me on." Akira put down his sports bag and pulled out a sturdy baseball bat. He clenched it in his hands. "Bring it on!" He ran at Keitaro.

Keitaro was about to move out of the way but Kai was still conscious and held onto Keitaro's leg's tightly so he wouldn't move, and it was too late for Keitaro to try and struggle out. Akira swung the bat at his head. Keitaro put up his arm to block the blow but when it struck Keitaro it didn't feel as painful as he had thought. Keitaro jabbed at Akira's color bone and hit it hard making him stumble back. Looking down he gave Kai a deadly glare. He was able to get one leg free before stepping on his arm hard, he could hear the bone cracking.

"AGGGGH! YOU BASTARD!" He let go and shot back against the wall holding onto his broken arm.

"Hmph!" Keitaro dusted himself off, getting ready to take out Akira. Akira was actually behind Keitaro and about to smash his head like a watermelon but Keitaro had seen this coming and parried around him nimbly. Keitaro elbowed him hard in the right rib then he took the chance and stole his bat, only to swing around and smash it right into his other ribs, breaking the bat in half. He went flying towards his friend, unconscious. "People like you make me sick. That's why I learned Shinmeiryuu, to protect innocent people from YOUR kind."

"Shut up, I'll kill you!" Kai got up and armed his non broken arm with his knife. He slowly walked to him and lunged his knife at Keitaro again. Keitaro smirked and grabbed a hold on his arm and bending it the wrong way to break his arm. "AAAAAAHHHHH!"

"You never learn." Keitaro kicked him away to his friend. He was crying for the pain and tried to hid away from Keitaro like a scared dog. Keitaro walked over to Mei and handed her the suitcase. She was watching the whole time and was freaked out by Keitaro's abilities. "Come on, let's get out of here."

"…" She was speechless and scared.

Keitaro sighed and offered his hand to her. "You can trust me okay? I only did that because I hate their kind of people. I'm not like them."

"…" She didn't budge and stared into his eyes.

"Ahem, well you know you can stay with those two over their." Keitaro pointed to the two idiots who looked pretty much dead, still alive though, Keitaro wouldn't commit murder… or would he?

"O-okay then, but I'm watching you." _Oh my gosh why did I say that? He just saved me, I should be grateful… but how do I know he isn't like those two men?_ Keitaro grabbed a hold on her hand and picked up her suitcase and headed out of the alley, leaving those men to lay motionless for god knows how long.

Keitaro and Mei ran out of the alley and headed for where Keitaro and Mutsumi were going but they slowed down. Keitaro handed Mei her suitcase and smiled. "You're not hurt or anything are you?"

"No, they didn't do anything to me, I'm just a little rattled up that's all."

Keitaro sighed. "Thank god, I was worried when I heard you yelling." He looked relieved for sure, that stress was all gone. "Well you be careful now, I'll be going now."

"Wait!" Mei grabbed his arm as he turned around.

"…Yes?"

"Sorry, but I overheard you before talking about going to Hinata Sou. Could you please bring me with you?"

"To Hinata Sou… uhh, sure." Keitaro looked down to her with a raised eyebrow. "Can I have my arm back?"

"U-uhh! Sorry!"

Several minutes later Mei and Keitaro arrived at the top of the stairs leading to Hinata Sou, Mutsumi was waiting patiently for Keitaro at the top. She tilted her head in curiosity when she saw Mei. She wonder who she was and what her relationship was to Keitaro.

"Ara, is this a little sister of yours you've been keeping secret?"

"Mutsumi! No!" Keitaro yelled but still knew that Mutsumi was joking… he thought, he wasn't really sure on that part. "Her name's Mei, she wanted to come to Hinata Sou for a sec. So I thought I'd bring her along."

"I see." Mutsumi kneeled down slightly to Mei, Mei wasn't that small after all. "Hello there Mei-chan, it's a pleasure to meet you." Mei responded with a slight nod beside Keitaro.

Keitaro walked ahead and slid open the door for the two before following them in. "Huh? Keitaro, you're back?" Kitsune had her jacket on looking ready to go out. "W-what a surprise."

"Going out Kitsune?"

"W-well not anymore!"

"Huh? Why?"

"Cause….w ell, umm, I remembered I have a full stock of booze still, ya, that's it!" _Can't let him know that I was going out to look for him._ "Anyway though welcome home, I hope you blew enough steam from last night."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"You know, about that girl."

"Who? Naru?"

"No… y'know, Yu-"

"Ara, Kitsune long time no see!" Mutsumi walked up to her and cut her off while hugging her. "You remember me right? I'm Mutsumi!"

"Mutsumi, what are you-"

"Don't talk about her, make sure no one does. I need to speak to all of you while Kei-kun's not around. It's important." Mutsumi whispered lightly into her ear.

_Interesting… okay Mutsumi, I'll play along._

"Mutsumi, come on, let her go now." Mutsumi did as Keitaro said. "Now Kitsune, what were you about to say? I'm curious now."

"About what?"

"Seriously…?

"Huh?"

"What?"

"I don't remember, sorry."

"…" Keitaro pinched his eyebrows and looked down feeling stressed. He noticed the whole time Mei was standing beside Keitaro listening and watching their conversation. "Eh heh, sorry about that Mei."

"Huh? Mei?" Kitsune hadn't noticed her until now, surprisingly. "Mei! It's you!"

"About time you noticed my presence Kitsune!" Mei dropped her suitcase running up to Kitsune and hugging her. Kitsune hugged her back and saw a confused Keitaro and delighted Mutsumi.

"Okay… I'm pretty sure their's a pretty good explanation for this."

"Of course there is Kei-kun." Mutsumi clasped her hands together. "Their sisters!"

Kitsune stood up and smirked. "Well you're close Mutsumi, she's actually Naru's sister. Surprised?"

"Naru's sister… how interesting…" Keitaro bent down and looked at her. "Do me a favor… don't turn out to be a brute like your sister, okay?"

"Hey, that's mean Keitaro." Kitsune laughed. She paused. "What a minute, if Mei's here… and Naru's not with you then-"

"She's back at the train station?" Keitaro looked disappointed.

"Yeah… someone should really go get her."

"Guess I'll go get her. You girls just stay here, I won't be long." And with that Keitaro was gone to get Naru. When he left, Mutsumi stared into Kitsune's eyes.

"You should gather everyone up, this is really important."

"…Okay."

A couple of minutes later everyone including Mei, Kanako, and Haruka had gathered into the kitchen. Kitsune sat at the end of the table with Mei standing beside her on her left. On the left of her sat Motoko and Su, of the right Shinobu and Kanako. Haruka stood besides Mutsumi.

"I'm guessing that Kei-kun had stormed out of this place after a Yukari related incident I'm guessing, right?" Mutsumi said seriously. Kanako nodded. "Could someone please tell me what exactly happened?"

"Well you see, it all started when Kanako told Keitaro about Yukari…" Haruka continued on with what had happened the day before and Mutsumi listened to it all. She wasn't all that surprised. "…and that's when he just left."

"Ara, it makes sense now."

"What does? What happened to Keitaro?" Motoko demanded.

"Yes, please tell us what's going on with sempai!"

"I don't know how to say this but I'll be blunt. Kei-kun… he seemed to have completely forgotten about Yukari… everything. What exactly happened is unknown to me."

"I can explain for yous all." Su stood up and pulled out her laptop out of nowhere and begun typing quickly. "You see Keitawo was already in a delicate state of mind and being with us pushed his tress levels to the limit. In combination with the shock of the news from Kanako and the crazed actions he showed afterwards, it's just possible that his mind just pushed out the memories of her. But in reality memories are never truly forgotten and are just pushed in the back of our minds and take some help to try and remember them, Keitawo has just pushed all these memories far in the back of his head. But with the right words and actions it's possible for Keitawo to remember it all." Su was still typing out stuff when she said all of that.

"Wow… by the way, what are you doing there Su?"

"Oh, just replying to a PM from some guy named hinarei on this forum. He wants my 'nanas, but too bad for him, they is mine!"

"This is quite interesting… the whole memory thing, not that hinarei thing." Haruka paced back and forth. "What exactly has Keitaro forgotten Mutsumi?"

"The wedding, his love life, everything that had to do with Yukari he seemed to have forgotten. It's as if she never existed to him."

The girl stayed quiet but Mei was confused, she didn't know what was really going on.

"This… this is a good thing, isn't it?" Shinobu whispered. Her whisper was heard by them all though.

"What do you mean Shinobu-chan?" Motoko asked.

"Well if Yukari-san doesn't exist to sempai, then he can live without the pain of her. I mean, I know you all hate to see sempai down whenever Yukari is mentioned, so it would be best if he just forgot about her, forever…"

"I've been thinking that too Shinobu-chan… but what if something jogged his memory to remember her?"

"We'll just have to do our best to stop that from happening, we can't let sempai get hurt anymore. You all agree… right?"

"Sounds like a good idea." Kitsune agreed.

"This is the best it would seem…" Motoko nodded.

"As long as Keitawo sticks around I is okay with it!" Su happily cheered.

"Well it's good that we all agree on something." Mutsumi was still looking and sounding serious. "Now all we have to do is tell Naru about this." Mutsumi looked around and could tell that the whole place was slightly different. "Ara, what are all those boxes all over the ceiling and walls?"

"Oh those? It's a secret of course!" Su jumped up holding a remote control with a single big red button on it.

Back at the train station Keitaro arrived and saw Naru pacing back and forth around the station waiting.

"Hey Naru, nice day isn't it?"

"K-Keitaro?" _Where did he pop out of?!_ "Uhh, what a surprise. You feeling better?"

"Huh? Well, I guess I am. Nothing can really bother me right now."

"Really?" _Wow, that's weird. Guess it's a good thing, but even so I shouldn't even mention that woman's name._ "What are you doing here?"

"Well you know, I'm just looking for a little girl about this high with about the same color hair as you carrying a suitcase." Keitaro but his hand around his chest to get a good picture of how small the person he was describing was. "Have you seen her? I think her name's Mei."

"What the heck?! You're looking for my sister?! How did you know about her?!" Naru dashed up to Keitaro and grabbed him by his collar. He was laughing though, rather than being scared or mad.

"Haha! Sorry, had to do that." He was still laughing as he grabbed her hands and made her release him. "I actually was here when she arrived and brought her to Hinata Sou. You've got quite a charming sister there Naru."

"…You idiot, you should've said that from the start." Naru blushed. "Sorry for getting mad at you like that. I was just worried where she was, I thought that some weirdoes might've gotten to her."

"Yeah… we wouldn't want that to happen." _Can't tell her THAT then._ "Come lets get back, I'm starving, all I had was a piece of watermelon."

"Watermelon? That's weird."

"Yeah, well that's all that seemed to be at Mutsumi's place at the time."

"Huh? Mutsumi's place? Why were you there?"

"Well, I spent the night there."

"At Mutsumi's place…"

"Well yeah, it was the closest place for me to go."

"And you spent the night there… with Mutsumi?"

Keitaro nodded. "I didn't really want to I guess but apparently she brought me there when I came to."

_I can't believe this, could those two really be an item? B-but… but that can't be! Did Keitaro really go into the arms of Mutsumi for comfort! Why didn't he come to me? What am I talking about… _"So you two are really close huh? You love her?"

"Whoa! Where did that come from? I don't think I can go THAT far, I mean I like her but love? I don't know about that." Keitaro's face was all red.

"Really? But from what I can tell it seems like you two act like… well, lovers."

He walked alongside her. "I know it seems like it, but we're just really really close friends. We're not what you think we are, we're only friends, that's all."

_Even though he says that… I feel like there's more to it. But at least I know that he thinks of her only as a friend._ Naru lightly punched Keitaro's shoulder. "Okay, that's good enough for me."

"R-really?"

"For now. Although I don't know what your perverted mind is hiding from me."

"Hey!"

"But I trust what you're saying… for now."

"Well, uhh, glad to hear it, now let's get back to Hinata Sou then if you're done interrogating me."

-/-/-/-/-/

"What could be taking them so long…?" Kitsune sighed standing behind Mei and resting her chin on her head. "Hey Mei, how old are you now? It's been so long that I forgot."

"Well I'm 13 and I'll be 14 next month, why do you ask?"

"No reason, just curious. But still, a month? That's pretty close… anything you want as a present?"

"That's funny of you to ask Kitsune, cause you never have any money… EVER!"

"Ouch… that hurts me right here Mei-chan. How cruel." She grasped her heart jokingly.

"Hey, it's the truth."

"Kitsune-san! Sempai and Naru-san are home!" Shinobu came running into the kitchen yelling.

"Okay, good job Shinobu, now we can get this started."

"Get What started?" Mei looked up to Kitsune.

"You'll see, just come with me Mei." Kitsune grabbed Mei's hand as she ran out of the kitchen and towards the front door. Kitsune slid the door open and surprised both Naru and Keitaro. "Hiya Naru!" She pushed Mei into Naru and dragged Keitaro inside while slamming the door shut.

"Kitsune?! What's the matter?!"

"Sssssssshhh, quiet down Keitaro. We were planning on throwing Mei a party but you messed it up by bringing her here too early."

"Well SORRY, but I kind of had no choice." He glanced behind Kitsune and saw Kanako looking at him from the stairs, Shinobu peering from the Kitchen, Mutsumi was standing by the stairs happily waving 'hi' to Keitaro, and Motoko sitting down looking at him. "Uhh… what's with the stares? Did I really mess up that badly?" _Is my fly down or something?_ "Uhh, Hi…?"

Kanako smiled happily. _This could work out perfectly._ "Welcome back onii-chan, I missed you."

"Hey now, we all missed you Keitaro. Glad to have you back!" Kitsune smacked his back hard making him stumble forward.

"Easy now, it wasn't like I was gone for a year or something."

"Sorry sempai but we were just scared and worried when you didn't come back yesterday."

"Yes, please try to not do that again Keitaro, we don't want to go out searching for you." Motoko stood up, walked to Keitaro, and gave him a little quick hug. _Maybe this is all I can repay him with for now._ "Don't worry us like that again."

Keitaro didn't move, he didn't expect her to actually hug him… EVER! Kanako, Shinobu and Kitsune were also interested in the current event. "Umm… sorry Motoko, won't happen again."

"Good…" Motoko released him and blushed.

_Ooooooooooh! How very delicious! Looks like Naru might have some competition! This could be fun! I don't know who to root for!_ "Hey Shinobu."

"Huh?"

"Why don't you give him a hug too?"

"Auu, what are you saying Kitsune?" _How did she read my mind! I can't do it now!_

"Ara, I'm surprised you said such a thing Kitsune-san."

"Hey, it's what I do."

"Well if you 3 are done, don't we have a party to get underway?" Kanako spoke out from the bottom of the stairs and went up to Keitaro. Shinobu came up into the group too.

"I'm surprised Kanako, you actually want to participate?"

"I never said I didn't want to." She crossed her arms in disappointment. "Haruka said she couldn't participate though."

"Why?"

"She didn't say, but she left in a big hurry after getting a phone call."

"Hey… something's wrong here."

"What is it onii-chan?"

"Where's Su?"

"Oh, heh, she's around…" Kitsune snickered.

"Around?"

The door slid open, Mei and Naru walked in.

Right in the middle of the group and the sisters, the floor suddenly opened up and Su popped out of nowhere holding onto the remote from before.

"BANZAIIIIIIIIIII!" Su clicked the big red button and all of Hinata Sou suddenly was engulfed and a pink cloud of dust that was the result of a large explosion.

"Onee-chan what's going on!?" Mei couldn't see through the think pink dust all over the place. It took a while but the dust settled down and Mei saw everyone gathered around her very very close. "W-w-w-w-what?!"

"WELCOME TO HINATA SOU MEI!!!" All the girls threw up Mei into the air and cheered while Keitaro just played along. While they were throwing her up all the boxes all over the house shot out party strings simultaneously.

"Hey! Haha! Come on! This wasn't necessary! Weeeee!"

As Naru and Kitsune had planned they had a long party together. Everyone was happy and things couldn't be better. Shinobu had cooked up a great feast for the party and even made a really good looking and tasting triple chocolate cake, everyone fell in love with her cooking even more and Mei was blown away. Things got a little out of hand when Kitsune started distributing sake to everyone… even Mei. At first Naru didn't want that to happen but Kitsune convinced her to. Maybe it wasn't the best idea but it was a party after all.

It was getting late and everyone but Mutsumi, Motoko, and Keitaro were passed out drunk. They were smart enough to control their drinking.

"I can't believe them… out cold just like that." Motoko shook her head.

"Well Kitsune did bring a little bit too much sake; you have to wonder where she hides it all." Keitaro laughed.

"Ara, should we wake them up?"

"Nah, that would be the last thing to do." Keitaro laughed. He noticed Mutsumi was looking around curiously. "What's up Mutsumi?"

"I was just wondering… Motoko-chan?"

"Hmm? What is it?"

"You lived here for a while, has it ever been… uhh, crowded?"

"Honestly I wouldn't say so, seems to be a lot of room in this big place."

"Well then, Kei-kun?"

"Yeah?"

"Could I live here?" she titled her head slightly to the side with a questionable look, waiting for an answer. "If it's okay with you of course."

"…Motoko? Got anything to say?"

"I'm not the kanrinrin Keitaro, it's up to you."

"Well then!" Keitaro grabbed Mutsumi's hand and shook it. "Welcome to Hinata Sou Mutsumi! I'm sure it'll be a pleasure to have you here."

"Ara… thank you." Mutsumi leaned forward to him.

"Oh, there's no need for a hug I-"

Mutsumi kissed him on the lips right in front of Motoko. Motoko's face of course went red instantly seeing that before her eyes. "Ara… sorry."

"You have to stop doing that Mutsumi."

"What? You don't like it when I kiss you?"

"No, it's not that, it's just that-"

She pressed her finger against his lips. "You don't need to say anymore." She smiled. "I'll go pick up my things from my place tomorrow and bring them here, until then Kei-kun." Mutsumi walked away and out of Hinata Sou after giving Keitaro one last glance.

"Hah… that girl." He glanced at Motoko and saw her looking at the ground.

_He kissed her… no, SHE kissed him. That was so sudden… it was like in that book… but real. Why won't my heart stop beating?_

"Earth to Motoko! You there?"

"W-what?"

"Heh, nothing I guess. Well I'll be getting to sleep now, you should do the same." Keitaro went for the stairs. "Oh, and could you get these girls some blankets or something? They look a little chilly."

"Yeah… goodnight Keitaro."

"Oyasumi nasai Motoko…"

Before this had all happened, right before the party had even started Haruka was back at her teashop and talking on the phone alone.

"So, you're not coming back for a while I'm assuming?"

"That's right, I have my own reasons."

"Heh, you always do."

"You haven't been smoking in Hinata Sou have you?"

"Umm, uhh, of course not."

"Yeah, you're lying."

"Come on, give me a break here, I can't just quit."

"Well if you say so." There was a long pause. "So… why Is it that you wanted me to call your teahouse?"

"I wanted to talk to you privately for a while."

"It's about Keitaro-kun isn't it?"

"Yes… that's right."

"Is it serious?"

"In a way yes, actually, this is VERY serious."

"Please enlighten me."

"Well long story short, Keitaro has forgotten everything about Yukari."

"Everything?"

"Yes, apparently everything." Another long pause. "We have decided to try our best to make sure that he doesn't remember her again, it's the best thing to do right now right?"

"This is a hard one, for now that would be the best solution. True I wish for Keitaro-kun to forget about Yukari… but to do it so suddenly is quite odd, you may have to look into this more. In the mean time you should make sure that Keitaro-kun doesn't have anything that may remind him of her."

"That shouldn't be a problem since all he brought was clothes here."

"Well actually… there should be one thing he brought with him, and knowing him he would have kept it close to him."

"What is it?"

"…His engagement ring."

-/-/-/-/-/

The next morning Naru had woken up in her bed early in the morning, around 4:00, Keitaro had actually brought everyone back to their rooms when Motoko had left. He even brought Mei with Naru to sleep together. Naru laid face to face against Mei as she slowly opened up a single eye.

"...Ugh… no hangover? It's a miracle…?"

"Onee-chan?"

"Oh, you're awake now?"

"Yeah… your breathe smells horrible."

"Well that's nice of you to say. Your breath isn't a ray of sunshine itself you know?

"Heehee."

Naru sighed. "It's good to have you here, you know that Mei?"

"Well then, it's all thanks to that Keitaro."

"How so?"

"He saved me; I thought he'd tell you girls."

"Wait a minute." Naru sat up. "What exactly happened when Keitaro picked you up? How did he save you?"

Right under their room Keitaro was having a bad dream about a faceless woman in a gown running away from him while he chased after her. He soon woke up from the nightmare in a sweat; he was confused at the dream.

"What the heck was that?" He whispered to himself. _A faceless woman… it's kind of like the faceless girl from my past 15 years ago, but that dream… it hurts my heart so much. Why?_

_I don't know, but if that's truly the case then it would be best to just forget._

Keitaro could hear the light conversation taking place right above him but he couldn't really make out what was being said. He only recognized his name come up a few times, but that was all. "Well they're up pretty early." _Seeing as I probably won't be able to get back to sleep, I might as well get some studying done._ He went to his desk and but on his glasses. He spotted his ring on his table. "Huh? What's this?" He picked it up and looked at it. "'Eternally yours – Keitaro Urashima'? What? This is mine?" _Odd, I don't remember having something like this, and what's with the engraving? Eternally yours? Sounds like I proposed to someone or something._ He clenched the ring in his hands and slipped it into his pocket.

**CLANK**

Keitaro looked up at the hole in his ceiling and saw the cover removed. Naru had slipped down in her pyjamas and landed perfectly. "Naru?" Keitaro stood up and went to her. "What is it?"

"Keitaro… I want to thank you."

"For what?"

"Stop that, you don't need to pretend. Mei told me what happened when you saved her." She looked down and crossed her arms lightly. "She says that she owes her life to you."

"Oh… that." Keitaro didn't want to think about that incident. "I'm just glad I was there to help her. But really, it was nothing."

"No, Keitaro, it was something and I thank you for that…" Naru blushed. "Keitaro?"

"Ye-?"

Naru had pressed her hands against his chest and kissed him to silence him. _Keitaro… I know now, I always wanted to do this…_

_N-Naru…? _Keitaro didn't know what to do. But his instinct was that Naru was just as scared as he was, even though it was just a simple kiss. And it was true, Naru felt a little nervous, but he gently grabbed her shoulders and soon enough… he was returning the kiss.

**End Chapter 6: The Changed Man**

_Zero Eiyuu: I bet you think the story is over right? Wrong! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I think to many things had happened in this story, like I didn't really want the story to be two days, in the story, but things just turned out this way, man did that last long. I mean, really REALLY long but I know that some Love Hina fics, such as 'A Changed Leaf', are like 5x my length in every chapter! Now that guy's got some grade A material too!_

_Any who… yup, Mei Narusegawa has been introduced to the story and I changed her personality slightly to fit this story, she's kind of the same in the anime but in a way kind of evil. And when I mean evil I don't mean evil as EVIL, just kind of mischievous in what she does in the anime. But yeah, she's a great addition to the story._

_Oh yeah, and regarding the party… aherm, I would just like to note that I do not encourage underage drinking… seriously! Or do I…?_

_Yeah! That whole Keitaro fight kind of came out of left field didn't it! Where did he learn those killer moves? Why the Shinmeiryuu of course! (Shinmeiryuu is a trademark of Ken Akamatsu in the great art of Kenjutsu.) It's true though, Keitaro's got some fighting instincts in him, it's just that he doesn't like to have to do it, just like his little welcoming party from Motoko in chapter 1… or was it chapter 2? I forgot. But don't worry, this story isn't going to be all about the A fighter Keitaro, I just needed that part to make the connection between Mei and Naru greater. Hey have you ever noticed that in EVERY anime or manga whenever the hero does something heroic they always say it's annoying? I find THAT annoying! I mean for god sakes take the credit for once… then again I did that in this story too so 'boo' on me!_

_I really hope you enjoyed reading this chapter… kind of annoying I say this in the end of every chapter ain't it? But I guess it's a habit. Please review if you wish, negative feed back or positive feedback, it's all good and will be useful to me. Heck, I gatta thank some of the reviewers! They really helped me modify the story in a good way. But anyway though I'll end this with a few funny bloopers, Enjoy!_

**Keitaro changing…**

**CLICK… CREEEEAK**

"Wait Mutsumi!"

**SLAM!**

**CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!**

A sweat drop ran down Keitaro's forehead. "Why is it that I have a bad feeling about this?" Keitaro opened the door after he put his pants on. It seems that Keitaro slammed the door a bit too hard and sent Mutsumi through 4 walls. "Oh my god no! Mutsumi!"

**A little snack…**

"Want a little snack Kei-kun?"

"Umm, sure. I could go for one."

"Then how about this?"

"How about wh---? GYAHHH!" Keitaro fell back from a nosebleed when Mutsumi had laid herself on the table naked with nothing but whip cream covering herself. "GYAHHH! Wouldn't that be dessert?!"

"Ara, you've got a point there, let me just get rid of all this cream." Mutsumi lightly touched the cream and licked it off her fingers seductively eyeing Keitaro.

"Oh my god, too much!" Blood sprayed out of his noise as he fainted from blood loss.

Mutsumi looked at the camera. "Hey Zero-san! I think Kei-kun is deaaaad!"

Zero pinched his eyebrows. "Okay, send in the Keitaro look-alike then."

**Heroic Keitaro…?**

"This is gonna be sweet. Yes, keep screaming like that, no one's gonna help you!"

"Leave her alone you sickos!" Keitaro went running for Kai. Kai didn't lose his cool though.

"Hah! Look at this guy, thinking he's a hero." Kai pulled out a long pocket knife. "Come and get some."

"Okay cut!" Zero yelled out. Keitaro walked away from the scene towards Motoko and Naru off to the side. "Okay, let's get Keitaro prepared for the big fight scene, let's try and get this in one shot… Hey! What are you two doing? I said 'cut!'" Akira and Kai were still at it with Mei. "I told you guys to stop already!"

"Come on Zero, can't we at least have a little fun?"

"Yeah Zero, come on."

"Umm… could you two NOT touch me?" Mei asked.

Zero got mad. "Psst, Motoko, come here for a sec." Motoko inched over beside him. "Could you just… y'know, take care of em?"

"Consider it done." Motoko drew out her sword and smacked Akira in the back hard and knocked him out. She then twirled around and smacked Kai in the stomach making him keel over. "Mei you wanna get out for a second, this is going to be rough." Mei walked away with a smirk. "I hope this'll teach you guys a lesson." Motoko kept on smacking her sword onto them even though they were on the ground and couldn't fight back.

"Those guys should've listened." Zero laughed.

"Hey umm, Zero? Shouldn't she stop?" Keitaro asked.

"Nah… let Motoko have a little bit more fun. Hey Motoko! Don't forget the groin!" Zero turns around and faces the reader. "That's all for now, please continue reading in future chapters, have a nice day now."


	8. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Blah blah blah, I don't own Love Hina, blah blah blah… and even more blah!!

_Zero Eiyuu: Hiyas-su! It's good to see all of you readers again and welcome to the Love Hina Fanfic Path of Love! It's been a while since I updated so here's to all of you who waited patiently for this chapter! Enjoy my friends!_

_Ryo Misaki: …Zero, who are you talking to?_

_Zero Eiyuu: The readers of course!_

_Ryo Misaki: What readers? _

_Zero Eiyuu: That's mean Ryo-kun… so very mean…_

_THE Dark Evangel: Yes Ryo-kun, that's too cruel._

_Zero Eiyuu: Thank you Eva-san._

_THE Dark Evangel: He's got that little doll that he made reading his fanfic._

_Zero Eiyuu: (Dies)_

_Ryo Misai: Do you think he's really dead?_

_THE Dark Evangel: I don't know but I think I'll take this chance and suck his blood._

_And that's the end of Zero Eiyuu, he had died from loss of blood… the story will now be discontinued…_

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**LIKE HELL IT IS!**

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**Love Hina: The Path of Love**

**Chapter 7: The Path Forgotten**

_I would never have expected Naru to do something that bold. Does this mean… she likes me? No, this is Naru we're talking about, that kiss she gave me has to be her way of saying 'thank you', she doesn't seem like the person to fall for a guy like me._

_You're hopeless you know that? Why do you have to think of it like that? Are you scared or something?_

_I don't know, I think I am. But there seems to be something else in me that makes me act very cautious._

_What could it be? What reason do you have to be afraid? There shouldn't be any, you heard it yesterday, and everyone cares about you. Don't you care about them?_

_Of course I do!_

Keitaro sat on top on the roof of Hinata Sou above the front door, he was looking at the sun slowly rise while the wind gusted across his hair. "What to do what to do…"

"Hey Keitaro." Motoko walked in and sat beside him. "It's kind of sad looking at you watch the sunrise alone like that."

"Oh, hey Motoko." He looked at her for a second then went back to the sunrise. "Beautiful isn't it? I mean… look at it." _This brings back good memories._ "A sunrise is such a wonderful thing, is comes up after a long sleep and pushes away the darkness of night to bring us a new day."

"That was beautiful Keitaro."

"Heh, thanks, took me a while to come up with that." Both Motoko and Keitaro stood up. Motoko was looking at his hands and wanted to hold it, but she of course was scared and nervous. "Hey, do you remember that time to hit me with that Ki wave when I first arrived?"

"How could I forget? It wasn't all that long again."

"Yeah, well I've been thinking. How about you and me have a little spar? I'd like to get some revenge."

Motoko laughed. "Well sure if you think you can beat me, highly unlikely though."

"Oh? Do you think I'm that inexperienced?"

"Well, your display at the Aoyama dojo was a bit impressive… but you still are no match for me."

"Oh, a little confident are we?"

"I think it's time I teach you a lesson, wait here for a moment." Motoko went back downstairs and left Keitaro. A few minutes later she came back with two Shinais in hand. "I hope you're prepared Keitaro, I'm not going to go easy on you."

"I didn't want you too anyway." Keitaro was handed one of the shinais. "Are you ready?" Keitaro got ready to strike her, she did the same.

"Whenever you are Keitaro, I'll let you strike first."

"How kind of you…" The two circled around each other never losing eye contact as they prepared to strike and block.

Keitaro lunged for her chest; she slashed his attack away to the side and slashed for his body horizontally. Keitaro crouched and felt the force of the attack skim his hair. Keitaro brought himself up and jabbed Motoko in the stomach with the hilt of his shinai. It didn't hurt her too much, just enough to make her jump away and grab her stomach.

Motoko leaped at Keitaro holding onto her shinai with her right slamming it right into Keitaro's head, he was able to block it with his own Shinai but he didn't completely stop it, the force made him hit his own head with his Shinai really hard. Once Keitaro hit himself she drove her knee fiercely intro his stomach then his back with the hilt of her shinai when he bent down.

Keitaro felt the full force but wasn't down and out yet. Keitaro threw up his head and knocked her hands and body off balance. Still on his knees he jumped up at her doing a diagonal slash to her body with all his strength. He almost knocked the wind out of Motoko.

Motoko smirked from how hard he was actually fighting. It was time for her to get a little bit more serious. Even though she was really hurt and should've stalled a little to rest she dash to Keitaro doing a non-stop barrage of attacks from all directions. Keitaro wasn't a beginner at this; he blocked and parried everything she threw at him. But Motoko's plan wasn't to hit him, it was to make him lose his energy, and it was working. Keitaro's arms felt weak and it took all of his strength just to hold onto his shinai.

With one finally attack Motoko struck his shinai as hard as she could and sent it flying straight up then booting Keitaro in the stomach knocking him down on his butt. She caught his shinai in the air and pointed both weapons down at him.

"I win."

"…Well played." He got to his feet and dusted his butt off. "I see I need to train more if I am to ever beat you."

"Heh, I told you that you wouldn't beat me. Nice try though. These wounds are going to leave a bruise though."

"You actually got bruises from that? Hah!"

"Hey! Didn't you?"

"What? No, my body is more used to it than you! I'm perfectly fine, you're just weak."

"That's cold…"

"Well if you want that to change, how about you spar and train with me more later on? It won't make you as good as me, but it'll definitely help."

"I'll consider it."

"That a yes?"

"Yeaaaah." Keitaro resumed looking at the sunrise. "Thanks Motoko…"

"For what?"

"Helping me put my mind at ease."

"What were you thinking of?"

"Nothing… nothing at all."_ Keeping me and Naru's kiss a secret would be the best right now. Everyone would completely misunderstand and I'm sure that Naru wouldn't want that either._

_What is he thinking… did something happen when he woke up? He seemed fine to me when he was going to sleep…_ _Wait… could it be because of that kiss he and Mutsumi had? That's still in my mind as well… _"Keitaro."

"Hmm, yes?" Keitaro watched Motoko stare off into space, she looked cool when the wind blew her long hair back.

"I would just like to remind you that I truly am grateful for helping me at the Aoyama dojo. Remember, if there is anything I can do for you, please do not hesitate to ask."

"You already did that for me though."

"You insult me Keitaro. You asking me to simply call you 'Keitaro' is in no way equal to what you've done for me."

"It's okay, really Motoko." Keitaro was feeling a little bit uncomfortable. "Why do you want to pay me back so badly anyway? I mean it's not really necessary at all, calling me 'Keitaro' is good enough for me?"

"Yes for you, but not for me."

"Seriously, why Motoko?"

"Well… I guess it's because it's my way of trying to tell you that I'm sorry, sorry if I've caused you any grief or harm."

"…"

"…"

"Fine, how about this then?" Motoko listened. "You take me out to get some beef bowl."

"………What…?"

"Yeah that's right; just take me out to get some beef bowl, that's all."

"Okay I didn't expect that but okay, beef bowl it is, but I must remind you that this isn't enough to repay you and I won't stop until I'm satisfied."

"Darn, I was hoping you wouldn't say that, but fine. How about you get me something more expensive then."

"No no no, beef bowl sounds good."_ I don't really have the funds for something for elegant anyway…_

"Hah, I thought so." _I was starting to crave that too, heh._

Motoko sighed in defeat. "Did I just get suckered into buying you beef bowl."

"Yuuup. And if you don't that'll be a great dishonour to you."

"Maybe I'll make an acception."

"What was that?"

"Nevermind." She whispered.

-/-/-/-/-/

"Good morning girls." Keitaro greeted the girls as they came into the kitchen. He saw Kanako walk in and take a seat beside him while yawning. "Morning Kanako."

"Ahhh… ohayo onii-chan."

"Sorry I made you sleep on the couch, but no one told me which room you were staying in."

"Oh, I've been using your room onii-chan."

"Wow, really? Are you sure? I mean my room is still so clean that I haven't noticed anyone staying there."

"You saying I'm messy? Unlike you onii-chan I like to keep the rooms I stay in neat and clean." She glared at him playfully.

"Not my fault."

"Of course it is, lazyyyy oniiiiii-channn."

"Could you two just be quiet?! My head is killing me!" Kitsune yelled, covering her head and resting it on the table. She felt the full force of a hangover from drinking 75 of the sake from yesterday's party.

Su bounced beside Kitsune and rested her head beside Kitsune's head. After looking around at everyone else she came to a conclusion. "Kitsune's the only one who has a hangover!!" She yelled this right in her ear, but it was the truth though the other girls looked perfectly find despite just looking a bit sleepy. Su had some problems though… Kitsune's eyes burned with a deathly stare.

"AGHHH! I'm gonna kill you Su!" Kitsune tried to grab Su but she bounced away to quickly and hid behind Motoko.

The whole time though Naru was talking with Mei and occasionally glanced over to Keitaro, and he noticed this. _She isn't saying anything, guess that means she doesn't want the others to know too. _"So Kanako, what room are you going to be staying in?"

"Hmm? I was thinking I'd just stay in your room, if you don't have a problem with that." All the girls went deathly silent.

_Okay… she's looks dead serious._ "I don't but… don't you think that'd be a little be, I dunno, crowded?"

"Don't girls usually like having their own private rooms? I mean we didn't even share rooms back at home Kanako." Keitaro gulped. "Besides, why are we talking about this in front of everyone?"

"You're the one who brought it up."

"Well yes but…"

"Besides everyone seems interested…" Kanako eyed everyone who was listening and that was everyone! _This'll show them that I won't them take away my onii-chan from me._

"Ah-uhh-ahh, I'd better get ready for school!" Shinobu went running for her room and Su followed her just for fun.

"I'd better get ready as well." Motoko followed as well.

"Come on Mei, help me put your things away in my room."

"Okay one-chan." Lastly Mei and Naru decided to leave and left Kanako and Keitaro alone.

"There, we've got some privacy now."

"Kanako… you've got a lot to learn." Keitaro went to go whisper in her ear. "They're just hiding and still listening in on our conversation. "We're not safe anywhere in this place."

"Look, this isn't even that big a deal, all I wish to do is to stay close to my onii-chan, is that too much to ask for?"

"…"

"…"

"I guess not. Okay, you can stay in my room."

"Great, then I'll go and unpack my things." Kanako happily walked away leaving Keitaro.

He sighed. "So many things just in the morning? I don't think I can handle this." Keitaro walked over to the front door to get some fresh air. He opened the door and went outside.

"Hey Keitaro! Long time no see!" Keitaro noticed Haitani and Shirai by the stairs and decided to greet them.

"Hey guys, what are ya up to?"

"We're helping Mutsumi move, she's got a heck of a lot of stuff you know?" Haitani dropped the three suitcases he was holding and sat on them to get a little rest. "Just why did we have to be around at the time Shirai?"

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to visit her, don't blame me for any of this."

"Oh come on but it's easier to blame others than oneself."

"Guys, speaking of which… where is Mutsumi anyway? I don't see her any-"

"Kei-kun."

"KYAHHH!" Keitaro nearly had a heart attack when he heard Mutsumi's voice behind him. "Mutsumi! How did you get behind me?!"

"Ara? What ever do you mean Kei-kun?"

"You just suddenly appeared behind me!"

"Ara?"

"Haitani! Shirai! You saw right?" Keitaro pleaded to the two for a answer, but they both looked jus as surprised as he was.

"That was amazing Mutsumi…" They both had they're jaws hanging way down.

Keitaro sighed. "This all your stuff Mutsumi?"

"Yes, that's all of it. Thank you Shirai and Haitani for your help."

"Hey, it's no problem at all for us Mutsumi!"

"What are you talking about Haitani? My back's killing me! Do you remember how far her place was?!"

"You guys stop complaining, if you didn't want to help her then you should've said so. And even so it's waaaay to late for that." Keitaro laughed at them lightly. "Now you guys put those things inside, Mutsumi we'll decide which room you'll be in shortly."

"We?"

"Oh, I forgot to mention. My sister finally moved in, cool huh?"

"Whoa? So she finally moved in huh? Sure did take her long enough." Haitani laughed.

"Yeah yeah I know. But I'm just happy she's here with me again. Although she seems to be acting different."

"How so?" Shirai asked. "Are you sure you're not just going crazy?"

"No… I'm sure of it that she's different, I mean, it's not exactly the same as before. It worries me." He crossed his arms and thought. "But yeah, hurry and get that stuff inside, I need to take a walk." He took only a few steps before something came to mind and he stopped. "Oh, wait guys, I need to ask you something."

"Yeah, what is it?" Haitani turned to him and so did the others.

"You 3 know me best so you should have some answers; could you guys tell me where I might've gotten this from?" Keitaro took out the engagement ring and showed them. "I found it yesterday and it peaked my curiosity. Got any ideas where I might've gotten this? I can't recall anything."

Shirai and Haitani looked at one and other then at Mutsumi. "Sorry Keitaro, I don't know where you got that from." Haitani shook his head.

"Yeah, doesn't look familiar to me either. Sorry."

"You Mutsumi? Any ideas?"

"Ara? I'm afraid I don't Kei-kun, sorry…"

_Looks like I'll never find out where I got this from._ "Thanks anyway…" He left them with no other words. On the way down the stairs though he ran into Haruka who looked like she was heading for Hinata Sou herself. She stopped to say hi to him for the time being. "Morning Haruka."

"Morning… going out for a walk?"

"Yeah, just need some fresh air. I think a bit too much has happened in the past couple of days."

"You're telling me!" _…He's holding it…_ "Keitaro, what's that in your hand?"

"Oh this? It's a ring a found on my table when I woke up. Strange how I can't remember anything about it at all."

Haruka listen to his words carefully to make sure nothing could make him remember about Yukari. "I see…"

"Why? You know something about this ring?"

"Maybe, can I see it?"

"Sure."

Keitaro handed over the ring to her. She examined it closely and read over the engraved phrase inside the ring over and over in her head. Part of her wanted to throw away the ring to make sure he'd never see it again… and her as well. But she didn't want to seem too suspicious in front of him. "It's hard to say but this ring… I think I've seen it before."

"Really? Where?!"

"Calm down Keitaro, I can't just remember on the spot." _What do I do… I have to get rid of this ring somehow. But Keitaro seems like he won't stop until he finds something out about this ring. What can I say… what can I do?_ "Well I can't remember right now but would you mind if I held onto it for a little bit longer? I'm sure I'll remember something important if it's with me."

"I don't know about that… I was thinking the same thing except for me."

"But I remember a little bit about it, don't you think it'll be better for me to hold onto it?"

"Well yes that's true… but I don't really want to let go of it. I mean something deep inside me is telling me that I should keep this close to me, to remind me of something, but I don't know what."_ But of course part of me wants to forget… to what is it?!_

"Well Keitaro if you really feel you can't trust me then-"

"Hey, I NEVER said I didn't trust you Haruka, how could you say that?"

"Sorry but in my shoes it seemed that way to me. So you DO trust me?"

"…Yeah."

"So I can hold onto this for now?"

"Just for now, I'd like it back later, and when I mean later I mean near the end of the day."

"Yes yes, I got it."

"…Thanks for helping me Haruka."

"It's no problem." Keitaro walked past her and down the stairs. "When you coming back to Hinata Sou?"

"Soon, I'm going to just walk around a bit and be on my way back."

"'Kay."

Keitaro reached the bottom; he turned around to look up those stairs he walked down. Memories from the past vaguely flowing through his mind as if to help him forget even more. The scene of him and the mystery girl whom he made the promise with played through his thoughts over and over. No matter what happened this was something he just could never forget.

"To get into Tokyo University… It will soon come true, I just know it."_ I'm a man of my word and I must fulfill this promise… even if that girl has forgotten all about me. But I'm hoping she hasn't…_ Not wanting to return back to Hinata Sou yet and to climb those stairs, he walked to a nearby bench and sat under the shade of a tree behind it. He watched on as countless others carried on with their lives, every single one of them seemed to have this happy aura around them. He was a bit happy at this but saddened at the same time, for he wasn't exactly happy.

_You're still thinking about that kiss with Naru aren't you?_

_Well of course, you are me after all. Can I help it if I keep thinking about it? I mean I haven't kissed a girl since that promise 15 years ago._

_Are you sure she was the only one? Wasn't there someone else? Someone close to you…?_

_I don't know, I think I did, but… I can't remember._

_Well that's bad for both of us. In any case what are you thinking? Why has this kiss sparked your interest?_

_That's a hard question to answer._

_Take your time, I can wait…_

_Wait, if you're me and I am you then doesn't that mean we can't wait?_

_True… well? Do you have an answer for me?_

_I don't know what I should be thinking now though, she kissed me and I kissed her back. She then went back to her room and closed off the hole. It'd be better if I knew what she was thinking._

_I'm sorry but we don't have that kind of power._

_I know… but still…_

_You like her right?_

_Yes…_

_Next question… do you love her?_

_I wouldn't go that far just yet._

_And why not? I've been stuck long enough in your head that I know when you're lying to yourself or not. So tell yourself the truth._

_Why do we always have conversations like this?_

_Cause you seem to like being alone with your thoughts a whole lot._

_Right… right…_

_Quite staling, give me your answer; do you love Naru?!_

_If you're me… then you know I can't answer that. I don't know if I love her or not. But Naru… I feel like I can spend a lot of time with her._

_…_

_Is that an acceptable answer?_

_Yes, for now._

_Good. But on the other topic, what do you think is up with Haruka and that ring?_

_Maybe it's worth a lot of money and she's planning on selling it?_

_Nah, that's something you'd expect Kitsune to do._

_Then I'm stumped._

_That makes two of us._

Keitaro lazily sank down into the bench till his head was nearly at the seat. "Time to get back then."

"Kei-kun! Long time no see!"

"Huh?" Keitaro felt a arm wrap around his neck. Seta had taken the seat next to him and was huggling him playfully._ What the heck? Is he Mutsumi or something?!_ "Hi Seta, could you stop that?"

"Sorry, it's just a joy to see you. You know Sarah keeps talking about you non-stop? I mean I think she's taken a shine to you!"

_Like Hell she did!_ "So have I." Keitaro grabbed Seta's arm and was able to escape his hug. "So what brings you here?"

"Oh, I wanted to come see if you wanted to come somewhere with me later on this month."

"For what?"

"An Archaeology dig of course, that's what I do."

"Cool, where is it?"

"Pararakelse isnland!"

"Para…what?"

"Pararakelse island." Seta pulled out a map. He pointed at a small island south eastern of Japan. "It's right there, we'll be leaving around the end of this month."

"Why so soon?"

"Well it's because I heard my team over there has uncovered some interesting artifacts and I had to go there myself and I thought to myself 'Hey! Kei-kun would get a kick out of this! I should bring him along!'"

"You sound really excited."

"Of course I am! So what do you say? I got Zero-kun waiting for me."

"Zero-kun?" _Wonder if it's the same Zero-kun…_

"Yeah, he's a friend of mine who's hooking me up with a really cheap price on tickets to Pararakelse island and he wanted to know if he should buy anymore tickets. So you in?"

"That depends, how long is this trip going to be?"

"It could take weeks! It could take months! It could even take years!"

"Seta-san, you know I run Hinata Sou right? I need to be here to take care of the place. I can't just leave it like that."

"I know that Kei-kun but come on! This is exciting! Don't you want to get a rush out of life?"

"…By digging up old artifacts…?"

"That's right!"

"Well… I don't think I can give you an answer just now."

"Aww… that's okay Kei-kun. But please contact me when you've got an answer okay? Here's my cell phone number." Seta pulled out one of his business cards from his pockets, wrote down his number, and gave it to Keitaro.

"Thanks. And here's mine..."_ Wait, I don't even have my cell phone… calm down, Kanako might've brought it over… but just to be safe._ "Here's my cell phone number and also the number for Hinata Sou.. If possible please just contact me through my cell okay?"

"You got it Kei-kun!"

"And do me a favour, don't call too much now, there's always things to do at Hinata Sou."

"You don't have to worry about that, I've got a ton of things to do as well. Oh that reminds me, I gotta get back to Sarah! I said I was going out to get her ice-cream!"

"Good-" Seta zoomed away leaving only a trail of dust in his place. "Bye?" _You know what? I think he's being drinking too much coffee… Still though time to get back to Hinata Sou._

_Hey wait, this scene reminded me of something._

_And that is?_

_We haven't drawn in so long, we haven't even touched the sketch book when after Shinobu had given it back to us. We should really take time to relax and do some doodling._

_Good idea lets go do it right now._

Meanwhile back at Hinata Sou Haruka had greeted everyone and welcomed Mutsumi to Hinata Sou. She left in a hurry though and went straight for Keitaro's room; Kitsune was curious and followed her. Haruka was going through Keitaro's things.

"What exactly are you looking for Haruka?" Kitsune went beside her and smiled.

"Keitaro's sketch book…" She went over to his suitcase and rummaged through it, still no book though.

"Sketch book huh? Has he got some dirty drawings in there?"

"Maybe, but that's not why I want it." She stood up and sighed from not finding it. That book of his might remind him of Yukari, he's drawn several pictures of her in there."

"Well why didn't you say so? Let me help you!" _Also, I think I see Keitaro's wallet on his table again, heh heh heh._

"Stop looking at his wallet."

"I wasn't looking at it."

"Okay, then could you at least put his wallet down…?"

"What wallet?"

"The one you just put in your pocket."

"Ah! You caught me."

"…Seriously Kitsune, help me find his book. This could mean big troubles if we don't."

"Okay okay…" Kitsune put his wallet back… after stealing about 4000 yen from him first. "What does this book look like anyway?"

"It's your standard black hard cover sketch book. He's got only one on him so it should be easy to spot, that's if we find it. Where the hell is that thing?" Haruka looked around and scratched her head.

"Hey, what are you two doing in my room?"

"KYAH!" Kitsune and Haruka jumped up in surprises and faced Keitaro at the doorway. He didn't look mad or anything, just curious. Kitsune backed behind Haruka and hit something with her foot. It was the sketch book located under the futon mattress.

"Well you two could've at least asked before barging into my room." Keitaro leered at Haruka. "Just to tell you I don't have or carry any porn magazines on me, so there's no point in looking."

"Oh my you've caught us Keitrao! Sorry but I just wanted to make sure you weren't reading those kinds of books." Haruka went up to Keitaro and lectured him. Kitsune took this chance and hid the book under her shirt and held onto her stomach.

"Haruka you're acting weird. Besides I'm old enough to read those things anyway."

"I know that but there are still others living in this place, remember that, what if Shinobu stumbled upon one of those books while cleaning your room?"

"Owwww… my stomach… I need ta go to the bathroom! Outta the way Keitaro!" Kitsune rammed right into Keitaro and knocked him out of the way, Haruka followed her.

"Oh god Kitsune! Here let me help you!" And just like that they were out of sight.

"I've got to find a way to lock my room…" Keitaro sighed and looked at the mess that those two didn't clean up. After some much needed tidying up Keitaro himself searched for his book, but no good, it was gone. _Strange, I remember getting it back from Shinobu-chan, where could it be?_

_It's just a sketch book anyway, lets just get another one._

_But I feel like there's something important about that sketch book._

_Sentimental value?_

_Could be…_

_Let's just get another later, it isn't that important. We can find another way to relax. First we still have to put Mutsumi in a room, let's not forget that._

_Yeah…_

After much discussion with Mutsumi, Keitaro had decided that Mutsumi was have the empty room on the second floor beside Naru's, he had always wonder what he would do with that room and here was the answer. Once Shirai and Haitani were done with helping Keitaro had offered them something to eat, but they had to leave quickly due to that they were already late for their jobs.

"By the way what do you guys do? You never told me."

"I thought we told you before Keitaro."

"Yeah."

"No you didn't, all you told me was that it was a secret, now will you tell me already?"

"It's still a secret Keitaro."

"You guys suck!"

"Look at the time Shirai, we've gotta hurry up!"

"That's right! See ya later Keitaro! Mutsumi!" And before they knew it Shirai and Haitani zoomed out of Mutsumi's new room.

"Really have to find out what those guys do later." Keitaro sounded a bit irritated and amused at his friends. "By the way Mutsumi, don't you have to go to work too?"

"Ara, I believe I have a day off today. Does Kei-kun want me to leave?"

"No! Not at all, I was curious that's all."

"Oh Kei-kun, please tell me, did you get a job as well?"

"Sort of…"

The two of them went into the kitchen to chat and sent off Su, Motoko, and Shinobu to school. In reality Mutsumi and Keitaro had to go to prep school too with Shirai, and Haitani but due to some difficulties today the prep school was closed. Apparently some crazy foreign girl and some crazy guy by the name Hinarei had unleashed some hell over there with an epic battle. No one knows what exactly happened. Naru had gone to her room to study in peace, no one but Kitsune had known that she was trying to get into Tokyo University in the house. Speaking of Kitsune she was busy drinking in her room to get some ideas on articles she would make up for her job as a freelance reporter, however in the past things didn't really go so well for her. Mei had gone off to wonder around Hinata Sou to get to know the place, she came upon the hot springs and after showering herself she took in a nice relaxing dip into the springs with no one around.

"Ara, that's an interesting job Kei-kun."

"Yeah, but it seems to have gotten into a little problem."

"Why?"

"My Boss Seta spoke to me a while ago and wanted me to go off to Pararakelse Island for a while, and I don't even know how long it'll be." Keitaro nudged his chin and looked outside at the clouds. "Thing is if I don't go I'll most likely lose the job and if I do go I'll be leaving Hinata Sou for a long time. And I can't just leave this place."

"Ara… that's no good. Not having Kei-kun around would be depressing."

"You think so? I mean I'm sure the girls would be fine without me. But I can't help but be worried."

"Ara…" _Kei-kun… what am I thinking? He should go, if there was ever anything to help him forget it all this would be it. And then when he comes back he'll forget everything about Yukari. Mutsumi you're a smart girl. _"You should go Kei-kun."

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"But who would take care of the place?"

"Kanako-chan is here right? Why not leave her in charge?"

"Kanako? Her? I can't put such a burden on her!"

"Oniichan I really don't mind at all."

"I know but Kanako—Where did you come from?!"

"Was at Haruka's place." She had listened to the entire conversation and had the same idea as Mutsumi did. "But don't change the topic, I really advise you to go on this trip with this Seta guy. I'll take care of Hinata Sou while you're gone."

Keitaro was trying to find out why these two would want him to leave so badly for. It was very suspicious for him. "Well okay then, if you two insist THAT much." _That means I'll just have to make a call to Seta. Oh wait, I should ask Kanako._ "Kanako, do you bring my cell phone by any chance?"

"Your phone…?" Kanako tried to remember where she put it. "I think it's in my suitcase in your room. I'll go get it."

"Nah it's okay I'll go get it."

"No you just wait here."

"Oniichan just let me go get it."

The trio went to his room together, Mutsumi didn't want to be left alone. Kanako went over and grabbed her suitcase from the closet where she put away the futon. Laying it on the ground and opening it Keitaro saw she packed only a few of her clothes, some make up, and two cell phones, one hers and the other was his.

"Here you go oniichan."

"Thanks." Keitaro took out the business card Seta had given him and dialled the number. The phone was answered on the first ring.

"Moshi moshi?"

"Seta-san, it's Keitaro."

"Kei-kun! That was faster than I had expected!" Keitaro could hear a muffled voice in the back ground but couldn't make it out. "It's Keitaro, you know? The one working for me? Yeah, hah, that one."

"Who're talking to?"

"Zero-kun, and you couldn't have called at a better time. So what's your answer?"

"I'll go with you."

"That's perfect because we leave this weekend!"

"…What? I thought you said we'd leave at the end of this month. Not in 4 days!"

"Plans have changed due to weather concerns. It seems that there's going to be a some very bad conditions up ahead and rather than wait any longer the departure has been moved earlier. You think you'll be able to get ready this week?"

"That's really soon, but I'll manage. Will you be able to come pick me up at Hinata Sou on Saturday?"

"Of course I can. But uhh Keitaro, you're not 'bugged' or anything are you?"

"Bugged? By what?"

"You know… a tracking device…"

"No… why did you ask such a weird question?"

"Oh, no reason! I'll see you on that Saturday Kei-kun! Oh and by the way I've already made a deposit on your bank account to pay for your salary."

"How much?"

"I'd say oh, I don't remember… but I'm sure it was in the 7 digits."

"You're kidding right?"

"Time to go, later Kei-kun!"

**BEEP!**

He shoved his phone into his pocket and rubbed his temple from the stress. Kanako and Mutsumi listened the whole time and had expected and wanted him to leave as soon as possible. They were happy with these changes of events. "Just how does something like that happen in only 2 hours?!" He stood and opened up his suitcase and sent several work clothes in there.

Kuro had then made his entrance into the room and perched himself on Kanako's left shoulder, whispering something in her ear. Mutsumi was bewildered and overjoyed to see Kuro looking at him with sparkling eyes. Kuro stopped whispering to Mutsumi and nervously looked at Mutsumi. "Kawaiiiii come here kitty!" Kuro didn't really have any choice because Kanako gladly handed him over to her. She hugged him tightly.

_Gyahh! Help me Kanako! You can't let her do this!_

"You like cats huh?"

"I simply adore them!" Mutsumi snuggled Kuro more and giggled happily. "But they aren't my favourite pet to have."

"Then what is?"

"You'll have to wait and see" She said in a singsong voice.

"Hey, you've got to tell me now, I'm curious. Is it a dog?"

"Nope."

"A bird?"

"No?"

"A dragon?"

"Bzzzt!"

"Umm… ahhh, a turtle?"

"Ding ding!"

"You're talking about Tama-chan aren't you Mutsumi?"

"Ara ara, that's right Kei-kun."

"Where is she anyway?"

"Umm, Tama-chan? A turtle? You've got a strange pet there Mutsumi."

"Ara, you'll be surprised later." Mutsumi looked around his room. "Ara? I swear I saw her fly into your room somewhere."

"Fly? I hate to break it to you Mutsumi but turtle's can't fly."

"Ara! There you are Tama-chan!"

"Myuhh!" A loud cry cried out above the three of them. Mutsumi looked on up and greeted a flying turtle hovering above her head. The turtle landed on top of Mutsumi's head and waved at Kanako. That moment Kuro was able to break himself free of Mutsumi's grasp and hoped back onto Kanako's shoulder.

"Tama-chan, long time no see." Keitaro offered his shoulder to Tama-chan and she flew over to his shoulder and smiled at him. Keitaro pet her and playfully nudged her.

"Ara, Tama-chan still adores you Kei-kun. Isn't that wonderful?"

"Sure is." Keitaro closed his suitcase satisfied with what he had packed away. "So I'll be leaving this weekend… I didn't want to leave that quickly but work is work. I trust you won't do anything crazy right Kanako?"

"We'll just see what happens in that time."

Time had passed by quickly in Hinata Sou.

Haruka was able to keep the sketch book hidden away from Keitaro the whole time and was able to avoid any conversations about the ring. She mainly kept to herself in her teashop and would always tell Keitaro she was too busy with work to talk to him.

Motoko spent most of her time just training herself daily. Often Keitaro would join her in battle and lose obviously. Though everyday Keitaro would learn more and more from Motoko and gained more skill with each passing day. Motoko had noticed this but wasn't worried, she knew she wouldn't lose against Keitaro.

Shinobu and Su became the best of friends quickly and soon couldn't stand to be without the other's company… well that is how Su feels. Shinobu feels the same way but not so greatly. Shinobu had grown to accept Su's whacky antics and got used to all the weird things she was doing. Having to comfort Su after a failed experiment on Keitaro was a daily chore for Shinobu.

Kitsune, Mutsumi, Naru, Mei, and Keitaro had been hanging out mostly outside of Hinata Sou. Often they'd just go out to eat, talk about school with Shirai and Haitani, go out and see a movie, and other normal things. Mei wasn't exactly interested with many things, she seemed to just enjoy Naru's company… as well as Keitaro's. Naru couldn't face Keitaro most of the time, thoughts of her kiss with him made her blush every time she looked at him. Everyone wanted to know what was going on between the two, but neither of them would say anything. Things would be the best this way they thought. But knowing Kitsune, she'd find out in no time.

It was now Saturday, 12:30PM, Seta had come to Hinata Sou to pick up Keitaro. Keitaro and Seta stood outside. Everyone, including Shirai and Haitani, but not Haruka were there to bid their farewells to him. Naru looked strange though, he face was unusually red at this time and she couldn't keep her eyes off Seta in a dream like daze. Kitsune knew why to but didn't say anything, she enjoyed this.

"Don't wreck the place up too much while I'm gone. Repairs aren't cheap."

"Yes yes, I get it oniichan."

"Keitawo, bring me back a present!"

"Don't worry I will. I'll make sure to bring you all back something." _If I have enough money that is… plus, I don't even know what they have over there._

"Keitaro. Take care." Motoko bowed.

"Sempai, please be careful."

"Yes, I will."

"Kei-kun. Can I ask you a favour?"

"Sure, what is it Mutsumi?"

"Tama-chan wants to go with you. Can you take her with you?"

"Myuhh!"

"Oh, uh…. Okay?" Tama-chan flew over from behind Mutsumi and landed on Keitaro's head with a smile. "Guess it can't hurt." Keitaro had noticed Naru's state of mind and walked up to her, she didn't budge still. He waves his hands in front of her, she didn't even blink. "Wonder where her mind has gone."

"Trust me, you don't wanna know."

"Kei-kun, please hurry, our ship leaves in an hour." Seta softly said while looking at his watch.

"Okay, got it. Good bye for now."

"Mhm, catch you later Keitaro."

"Don't pick any fights okay?" Mei jokingly said, still remembering him saving her. "We don't want you putting anyone in the hospital now."

"Ah, don't worry about that." He and Seta nodded at each other and walked off. At that time Naru finally snapped out.

"Huh? What?!"

"Welcome back to Earth Naru, you just missed Keitaro."

"What?!" Naru ran to the stairs, seeing the two of them walking down all ready. "Keitaro!" That caught his attention. "Take care of yourself!"

"Heh, thank you Naru."

1 Hour later…

"Finally you two arrived. You couldn't have come earlier?" Zero stood at the dock leading up to the ship going to Pararakelse Island. "The captain was going to leave earlier but I had to stall for time, you know how boring it is talking to a old sea dog?"

"Hah, sorry. I had some troubles with the cops on the way here. But my superior driving skills got us out of that trouble. Right, Kei-kun?" Seta looked behind him at a panting Keitaro.

"What the heck are you talking about?! You ran 5 red lights and nearly rear ended 10 cars!"

"Why do I even bother being friends with you Seta…" Zero groaned. "So Kei-kun, you really are going with Seta, I'm worried for you."

"Hey, you aren't the only one." Kei groaned as well.

"Well you two hurry up and get on, the ship's leaving in 1 minute." Zero watched Keitaro and Seta get onto the ship. The bells rang and the ship was now off to it's destination.

"Papa! You're finally here! If you were any later I would've been on this ship all by myself you know?!"

"Sorry Sarah. It won't happen again."

"That's a lie! It ALWAYS happens!"

Keitaro stayed away from the two bickering to one and another. He kept to the rails and looked off into the horizon, taking in the scenery and cool breeze.

_I hope this doesn't take too long. I enjoyed being around those girls. I don't think I can go without them for too long._

_But you'll manage._

_You think?_

_Of course, I wouldn't doubt it. Besides I'm sure this won't take any longer than a month._

_A month is a long time. I'm far to worried about Kanako and Hinata Sou. What if something goes wrong?_

_Kanako will take care of it. She's your sister, granted she's your half sister, but she's got your spunk in her. She can handle these things on her own._

_Yeah… you're right…I shouldn't worry._

_Are you still curious about that ring from before? We never got any word from Haruka._

_Honestly I couldn't care any more about such a trivial thing. If it's something I had remember then it's something I should completely forget. It couldn't be THAT important anyway._

_That's true. I say you've made the right decision then._

"Pararakels Island… what could be waiting for me there I wonder."

-/-/-/-/-/

"Hey, what are you doing?!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't do this! This just isn't right!"

"You can't just leave! Yukari! You'd better not leave that damn door!"

Yukari grabbed a hold on the door handle and tightened her grip on the suitcases she was carrying. "I was wrong… I shouldn't have done this to Keitaro. I shouldn't have even thought about this!" She yelled back at the man.

"It's too late Yukari. I'm sure he'd never take you back! Who in their right mind would?! You better just stay here with me!"

"That's not true… Keitaro still loves me, I know he does."

"And how the hell do you know that?!"

"Because I still love him!"

"Don't lie to yourself! If you did you would've married him on that day! But no, you came to me! You came to me because you were sooooooo greedy."

"Shut up! I'm leaving!"

**SLAM!**

Yukari stood outside of the large house, holding onto her suitcase and running away from the place. She kept on running and running until she was too tired and stopped at a bus stop.

"Keitaro… please… just give me another chance. I know I've done something terrible to you, but I'll have my whole life to make it up to you… I promise…" She boarded the bus.

It was time for her to head back to the Urashima residence.

**End Chapter 7: The Path Forgotten**

_Zero Eiyuu: My bad, this chapter was actually suppose to be a lot longer than it is right now, but I was starting to lose my patience with myself and quickly wrote through all the events I wanted to happen. As you can tell from the shortened time in the 4 day wait for Keitaro._

_Well ya, there's the chapter for you, sorry for the wait I made you all do, but things like this take time, hah. I'll be honest with you, this wasn't exactly my favourite chapter but oh well._

_Wow! Yukari has made a move eh? Isn't this exciting?! Who knows what's going to happen next! What's going to happen on Pararakelse Island?! What's going to happen at Hinata Sou?! Will I update again soon?! I have no idea!_

_Thank you for reading, please review if you'd like, doesn't matter much to me but I do enjoy it._

**Blooper: Suuuuuu Pwned!**

Su bounced beside Kitsune and rested her head beside Kitsune's head. After looking around at everyone else she came to a conclusion. "Kitsune's the only one who has a hangover!!" She yelled this right in her ear, but it was the truth though the other girls looked perfectly find despite just looking a bit sleepy. Su had some problems though… Kitsune's eyes burned with a deathly stare.

"AGHHH! I'm gonna kill you Su!"

Kitsune was faster than expected and had clenched Su's neck with both her hands squeezing tightly.

"K-K-Kitsune you're suppose to miss her!" Keitaro scarcely pleaded to her.

"Shut up! This is gonna be sweet!" Kitsune looked at Keitaro for a moment. That gave Su enough time to press a little red button that was camouflaged on her sleeve. "What was that 'click'?"

Before she knew it everyone had cleared the table and hundreds of Mecha-Tamas occupied the area and aimed their weapons at Ktisune. "Get em my pretties!"

"Oh crap…"

**ZAAAAAAAAAAP!**

**Blooper: Wrong Book…**

"What exactly are you looking for Haruka?" Kitsune went beside her and smiled.

"Keitaro's sketch book…" She went over to his suitcase and rummaged through it, still no book though.

"Sketch book huh? Has he got some dirty drawings in there?"

"Maybe, but that's not why I want it." She stood up and sighed from not finding it. That book of his might remind him of Yukari, he's drawn several pictures of her in there."

"Hey look! I found it!" Kitsune picked up a hardcover black sketch book off the ground.

_Zero Eiyuu: What is she doing? They aren't supposed to find the book this early… lets see where this goes._ Zero signals to continue shooting the scene.

"Good then lets get the heck out of here before Keitaro get's here and she's what we've done to his room!"

"Wait, I wanna take a look in this book."

"Actually you know what? I've always wondered about Keitaro's drawing skills." The camera zoomed in on the book and the pages flipped. Kitsune and Haruka were quickly skimming through the first few pages. "WHOA! HELLO!"

"Kyahh! Stop filming! What is this?!" Zero yelled out in anger. Kitsune and Haruka blushed madly as they looked through the book. "This isn't appropriate! Keitaro! What the heck are you doing leaving drawings like THAT around!?" Keitaro was standing right beside him.

"Not my fault, it's there's for invading my privacy."

"Damn Keitaro! That's really perverted to draw such things, especially on this set!" Zero glared at Kitsune. "And you! Stop going through that thing!"

"I'm sorry… but I just can't help myself."

"Quick! Somebody get that book out of here!" Zero pointed at Naru. "Quick! Do something!"

"Gotcha Zero-san." Naru evilly stared at Keitaro and reared her fist pack and punching him with such force that it sent him through the studio walls. "PERVERT!!"

"That's not what I wanted you to do but it works. Motoko, would you please just dice up that book?"

**Blooper: Party Time!**

"Sure is." Keitaro closed his suitcase satisfied with what he had packed away. "So I'll be leaving this weekend… I didn't want to leave that quickly but work is work. I trust you won't do anything crazy right Kanako? No throwing parties late into the night."

"I'm not a kid, and I can't promise that last part."

**-/-/-/- 10 minutes later -/-/-/-**

Keitaro had gone out to get some suntan and had come back to Hinata Sou. Too his surprise on his way up the stairs he saw several strangers passed out on the stairs with booze in their hands. He ran the rest of the way and say that from the outside Hinata Sou was and mess and some parts of the roof was on fire and many more people were outside partying. Inside was worse… it was a nightmare for him. He couldn't see the floor, it was either covered in garbage or people had passed out on the floor. In the kitchen there was Shinobu dancing on the table with a bottle of sake in hand and her face completely red. The rest of the girls were passed out asleep on the table and Kanako appeared behind Keitaro.

"Sorry, I couldn't stop this from happening."

"…"

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"…Kanako… I'll give you 5 seconds before I tear your head off… 5."

"Oh crap!"

"4…3…2…1…0!"

**Blooper: Giving Keitaro a Lesson**

"Well, your display at the Aoyama dojo was a bit impressive… but you still are no match for me."

"Oh, a little confident are we?"

"I think it's time I teach you a lesson, wait here for a moment." Motoko went back downstairs and left Keitaro. A few minutes later she came back with her equipment in hand. "I hope you're prepared Keitaro, I'm not going to go easy on you." She dropped several weird objects in front of Keitaro. One which intrigued him was a whip and a ball gag.

"What the heck is all of this for?"

"For the lesson of course. Now hurry up and but that gag on and get into position!" Motoko grabbed the whip and snapped it against the ground. "Also strip down into your underwear and lets get this thing started!"

"Like hell I am! I'm not that kinky for starters!"

"Then we'll have to change that." Motoko looked at Keitaro seductively and rubbed up against him. "I'll change your mind for sure."

-/-/-/- **Kitchen** -/-/-/-

"AAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!"

"Hmm?" Shinobu looked up at the ceiling. "What was that?" Su plopped onto her seat in the kitchen.

"It sounded like Keitawo screaming."

"Should we go check on him? I think he's up on the roof."

"Nah. I want to eat breakfast Shinomu! Pwwwease!"

"Okay okay."

"AAAAAAAAAAGH!! SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

**Blooper: Paying Keitaro Back Big Time**

"Seriously, why Motoko?"

"Well… I guess it's because it's my way of trying to tell you that I'm sorry, sorry if I've caused you any grief or harm."

"…"

"…"

"Fine, how about this then?" Motoko listened. "You become my girlfriend?"

"Your… g-girlfriend…?" Motoko stuttered and blushed.

"Yes… my girlfriend."

"W-why?! Why right now?! I don't know if that's a request I can give!"

"Well that's too bad Motoko, I was really looking forward to it."

"Wait! Keitaro! I've mad a decision!" She looked straight into his eyes and closed hers. He closed his eyes as well and he was drawing closer to her. He was so close that she could feel his breath. "I…I…" She tightened her grip and shivered. "I WILL NOT BE YOUR GIRLFRIEND! DIE YOU FIEND!" And with a swift strike Motoko struck Keitaro into the morning sky.

**Deleted Scene — Tama-chan vs Kuro**

"Myuh Myuuuuuh Myuh Myuuuh! (There's only room in this place for ONE pet!)"

"My thoughts exactly. So I advise you to just leave this place forever."

"Myuh Myuh! (Why don't you make me?!)" Tama-chan's eyes gleamed evilly.

"If it's a fight you want then come and get it! Bring it on!" Kuro flew at Tama-chan but she flew up as well and the two started to chase each other around and around in a circle near the ceiling. "You can't evade me forever!"

"Myuh! (Take this!)" Tama-chan turned around and head butt Kuro in the stomach, Kuro however saw this as a chance and chomped on Tama-chan's tail. "Myuuuuuuuuuh! (Owwwwwwwww!) Myuh myuh! (Let go let go!)"

"Nyahahahah!"

Winner: _Kuro_

**Scenes from the next chapter**

"What?! Keitaro's not here?! Where did he go?! I have to speak with him right now!"

"Why should I tell you? So you can just break my sons heart again? I don't think so.

-/-/-/-/-/

"**So this is your reason for being here. I never knew… but now that I do I will do everything I can to help you. Is that okay with you?**"

"**…Yes…**"

-/-/-/-/-/

"W-what are you saying?! You can't be serious…"

"I'm quite serious actually. And no one will stop me from doing this. No one, and if you get in my way I'll have to resort to violence then. And trust me, that's something we all want to avoid."

"Y-you can't do this!"

"It isn't your place to order me around. Since you won't stop complaining though…"

-/-/-/-/-/

"How do you think things will end up Hinarei?" Zero asks.

"How the hell am I supposed to know? You're the writer!"

"Yes, that's true I guess." He happily sipped his tea. "This story still has some ground to cover. With Yukari's arrival things have become quite complicated hasn't it?"

"Why are you telling me this? Why am I even here?!"

"Heh, who knows." Zero calmly said. "Stay tuned for the next chapter, Chapter 8: The Truth Revealed."

"Who the hell are you talking to?!"

"Sayonara minna-san."


End file.
